Inside German Leopard Tank Sent to Ukraine

welcome back spare parts Army I'm your average infantryman Chris Cappy free the leopards was a campaign launched last year by two Finnish politicians to pressure Germany into sending their main battle tanks to Ukraine the movement has made its way to social media with top tier Spice Girl memes like this one if you want to be my lover you got to send leopards to Ukraine a campaign aimed to go viral by encouraging citizens to wear their favorite leopard print clothing and post a selfie with the hashtag free the leopards is this what caused German Chancellor Olaf scholz who announced on January 5th 2023 they would approve two tank battalions of leopards to be sent to Ukraine no probably not but questionable fashion choices aside how did Germany find itself facing this kind of peer pressure well you see they hold the keys to one of the best available tanks in Europe the leopard too so why are they not only reluctant to send the tanks but also shy to approve other nations the ability to send their own Supply what could go right or wrong now that Germany has decided to send tank and are the rumors about the Tank's combat weaknesses in Syria actually true we'll cover all of that and more in today's video so let's get into it but first if you're looking for a new hero collector game that allows you to dominate the anime and show off your Tactical skills then check out this episode's sponsor gemstone Legends use my link in the description or scan the QR code to get a special starter pack it's an epic RPG that combines many different genres into one game it's got puzzle style gaming to test your intelligence and guild war elements to play with others there are over 200 heroes from 8 different factions and five level tiers each Hero has their own unique set of skills and strategy in battle don't take my word for it though gemstone Legends has an outstanding 4.6 star rating on Android and an almost 5 star rating on iOS beat monsters and recruit your own personal Dragon Ally 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original theory was that the leopard would be faster and less armored allowing them to outmaneuver the Soviet tanks but we'll see that concept has significantly evolved since then the leopard was first built for the West German army during the Cold war production began in 1979 and by the mid-1990s when the Cold War had ended Germany had thousands of these leopards just collecting dust and German garages so naturally they threw a garage sale and sold a bunch of them at reduced low low prices to countries all over the world they had particular success selling them to countries in Europe so much so the tanks manufacture across mafai started referring to the tank as the Euro leopard the Netherlands Denmark Poland turkey and many others all have some supply of the leopard twos but the question of which version will be sent to Ukraine potentially is important we know that by the mid 90s all of their thousands of tanks in service have been upgraded to at least the leopard 2a4 standard 6485 leopard tanks have been built of which 4744 were battle tanks and 1741 were utility and anti-aircraft variants Nicholas Drummond a great military analyst wrote on Twitter that the vehicle could be easily upgraded from the versions to the newer one simply by adding on modular armor and electronics kits I say simply like I know how to modify my own Toyota Camry let alone a multi-million dollar tank we know Germany is sending their leopard to a six version and they approved authorization to European Partners to re-export their own supply of vehicles aiming to provide at least a total of 88 to Ukraine this means that there are about 2 000 tanks stuck in 13 different countries just waiting to get the green flag to deploy to Ukraine you'd think that this would take the pressure off of Germany considering so many other allies have the leopard if everyone has the tank and certainly Germany isn't solely responsible for sending them to Ukraine right well that's where it gets tricky when Germany sold the leopard twos to those countries they made a law that the countries receiving the tanks couldn't let anybody else use them without Germany's explicit permission it was a well-intentioned rule meant to stop a situation where someone decided to make a quick buck and sell the tanks to Isis which is a big No-No but now this rule means that no no one can send the tanks to Ukraine without Germany signing off on it they've inadvertently put themselves in a position where they have to give explicit final approval on what could arguably be one of the most significant actions against Russia by the West since the War Began basically they would have to shoulder a lot of the burden of responsibility for this decision and any potential consequences that could come from it this background puts into perspective what a big decision this was for Germany even in spite of these International pressures in a large part of the burden of responsibility sitting on their shoulders Germany still agreed to send their tanks so what we're covering here right now is of course subject to change but according to the German government the tanks will be delivered to Ukraine after they have trained the Ukrainian tankers that could reportedly take up to three months which means it could be there by March according to Germany's Minister of Defense in mid-January 2023 Poland's prime minister said that they were ready and willing to send leopard tanks to Ukraine but they just needed the good old consent from Germany first Prime Minister Paul Owen said quote I cannot imagine the situation where there is no such consent given in a quick Way Poland has stated that they would likely transfer the tanks to Ukraine even without approval from Germany but while all these big political questions are playing out the clock is ticking in the background because the timing is perfect for Ukraine right now to potentially push back and reclaim the rest of their land from Russia but to do so they need help there's also the issue of how many tanks Germany currently has on stock they operate about 350 active in their stockpile with 200 in storage which raises questions about how many they can spare German arms manufacturer reimital CEO made a statement that said quote even if the decision to send our leopard tanks to Kiev came tomorrow they would not be able to deliver leopard tanks until 2024. this is because they need to repair and refurbish the tanks so they wouldn't be ready until next year at the earliest Ryan matola's inventory tanks includes 22 of the newer models and 88 of the old leopard One models but many people pointed out that this is kind of a red herring a misdirect if you will because no one really wants ramatal to send the new tanks to Ukraine they want Germany to allow other countries to send their stock then reimotol would use their new tanks to replenish any ones that Germany since according to the latest information Germany will pull partially from their active stock of 350 tanks and partially from reimital's inventory of those 22 new tanks to make sure that there's no capability gap for them now that Germany has granted permission to European allies to send the tank this resolves a predicament that Poland found themselves in when they were ready to go to the party a little bit earlier than Germany was the reason this would be such a massive boost to Ukraine's capabilities because these tanks are one of the best tools for recapturing territory The Leopard 2 is armed with 120 millimeter Smooth Bore gun that has a famous stabilization system that Germany proved in a promotional video that also shows off the country's other greatest export beer of course they loaded up a cold one in a mug on the tip of the cannon and demonstrated its Stables ability by hitting an obstacle course without spilling a single drop which would be blasphemy in Germany all I know is if Ukraine does ever get the tank please remember to war responsibly but it's not just the Canon stabilization at work here the vehicle also has a torsion bar suspension and advanced friction dampeners allowing it to climb vertical obstacles up to a meter high and it's able to negotiate a wide range of terrain with a slope of up to 60 degrees and a side slope of 30 degrees the leopard 2a4 weighs over 60 tons which is sounds like a lot but it's less than the Abrams making it more Nimble and well leopard-like it's approximately 25 feet long making it slightly larger than the 22 10 foot long t-72 often used by Ukraine it's powered by a V12 twin turbocharged liquid-cooled diesel engine since it uses a diesel engine instead of the more complicated turbine than the Abrams it makes it less maintenance intensive and easier for refuel Logistics the tank can reach a top speed of 43 miles per hour and it can travel up to 2 210 miles on road on a single tank of gas its dm-42 armor-piercing anti-tank round can penetrate 560 millimeters of steel armor from 2 000 meters away the most upgraded version of the Russian t-72 does have armor that's about 560 millimeters thick in some places that's what it's rated for when the armor is sloped but this is why the leopard 2a6 variant has a longer gun that fires a more powerful anti-tank ground that's able to puncture 750 millimeters of Steel enemy armor but there are potential weaknesses that it's important for operators to be aware of the tank carries 27 rounds for these guns and it's stored in the forward section of the hole to the left of the driver and 15 rounds on the left side of the turret bustle some would suggest having the ammo in the front of the hole is a risky move because if the Admiral storage is hit it could detonate all of those rounds and the front is the most likely place to take a direct hit in anticipation of this problem German Engineers designed the blow off panel on the turret roof to direct the explosion upward away from the crew this also has led to Germany decide to increase the armor in the front of the hole possibly at the cost of the side armor it's important for commanders to keep this limitation and possible weakness in mind while deploying the vehicles this ammo storage on the leopard is the main point that's seen as a possible problem for the tank the claim is that if the front of the hole is penetrated in reality the whole tank will go up in smoke like how the t-72 has been seen to do reports and video evidence show that 10 leopard tanks that were donated to Turkey were destroyed by ISIS soldiers in Syria during one combat engagement so what happened here it could be that the Turkish Army lacked the correct training and experience in Combined arms Warfare to deploy infantry around the tanks in close proximity in order to protect their armored vehicles vulnerable sides some versions of the leopard do not have explosive reactive armor which means that the Russian atgm cornet with a 600 millimeter penetrator rating would easily break through the armor the leper 2 features spaced multi-layer armor that combines steel plates elastic and non-metallic materials throughout the front of the leopard 2a4 has vertically faced turret armor that is approximately 31 inches thick or 780 millimeters it's estimated that these tanks can resist 125 millimeter anti-tank rounds fired from about a mile away the leopard 2a5 and newer versions have angled arrow-shaped hurt applique armor that is 59 or 150 millimeters thick so over time the tank has evolved to be fitted with more and more heavy armor but one of NATO's main advantages with their equipment remains their Battlefield management computer systems which are unmatched by Russia Russian forces have to rely on static-filled radio transmissions and paper maps to plan their operations in most situations meanwhile the leopard tank gives commanders a full picture and better real-time understanding of the battlefield so what we're covering here right now is of course subject to change but according to the German government the tanks will be delivered to Ukraine after they have trained the Ukrainian tankers which means it could be there by March according to Germany's Minister of Defense the tank is equipped with the German EMES 15 Fire Control System that has a Laser Rangefinder as well as thermographic and infrared cameras NATO and most countries in the world have condemned Russia's war in Ukraine but no one wants to be the straw that broke the Putin camel's back and provoked Russia directly no one wants to be in that hot seat which has been a major theme of the war so far Putin has already disrupted the world's energy Food Supplies and made not so vague threats about using nuclear weapons right after the Russian invasion of Ukraine started German Chancellor Olaf scholes said he would dedicate 108 billion dollars to modernizing their military and reaching the two percent spending goal for defense and in Germany's defense they are the third largest contributor of military aid to Ukraine Ukrainian its allies know that they have to act quickly if they want to have a chance to defeat Russia Russia's other trump card was disrupting Germany's energy Supply but so far Germany has done a pretty good job of weathering the storm and privatizing their own natural gas resources so what's the rush why are all these countries putting pressure on Germany right now the situation on the front lines is not good for Russia but there are reports that they're aiming to mobilize another 500 000 troops and are building a potential new Invasion force in Belarus to try for another offensive in Kiev possibly there is a potential that if Ukraine does not move now they could miss their chance and face a stronger opponent this time next year Ukraine doesn't want the war to drag on and they don't want to give Putin the time to regroup while he's reeling the time is now Germany's defense minister resigned in mid-January after facing heavy criticism from NATO for the German government's delayed support for Ukraine she also posted a particularly tone deaf video to Instagram on New Year's Eve where she commented on the war in Ukraine with fireworks exploding in the background which didn't exactly help her case it was always thought that Germany's new defense minister that replaced her would most likely approve the shipments of the leopards this tank could be key in bringing Russia to negotiation to end the war and possibly leaving the country in order to do that they need tanks specifically the leopard too

Channel: Task & Purpose

Views: 818,358

Keywords: german military, olaf sholz, leopard main battle tank, leopard 2, m1 abrams, ukraine war, russian armed forces, putin, russian response, sending tanks to ukraine, infantry fighting vehicle, free the leopards, task and purpose, infantry, armored vehicle, war, educational, informational, news, geopolitics, belarus, poland, duda, supply, logistics, rheinmetall

Id: p69gZ9HWVnI

Length: 14min 19sec (859 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 27 2023