Today’s Leopard and Challenger tanks from various European countries and Canada are a key tool by which Ukraine, which has already received the first units, will strengthen its army and through which it hopes to increase its counteroffensive strategy. Twelve countries have begun sending Leopard II tanks to Ukraine, or in the near future, for a total of about 150, to which the Challenger 2 supplied from the United Kingdom and the American Abrams have been added.
With a line-of-battle weight of 62 tons, a maximum speed of 70 km/h and a range of 350 km, the Leopard 2 tank was developed from a plan with the United States of America for armed combat.
The idea was to build a tank that combined mobility with protection and combat capability. The Leopard II was produced in Germany and the Abrams in the United States, two of the most advanced tanks in the world.
The German pool, which has the ability to pass floods and rivers up to 4 meters high, has been made by the Kraus-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) consortium since 1978. Since then, improvements have been made and the factories have come together. from over 3,600 copies.
The German army came to 2,125, but from 1990 it started to reduce its stock until it reached 338 at that time. Some of these vehicles came to Spain in 1998 under a lease agreement that eventually materialized as a purchase.
Challenger 2 is the largest battle tank in service with the British Army and the Royal Oman Army. Although its primary function is to damage or neutralize weapons, the Challenger 2 can operate across the spectrum of high-intensity conflict.
Manufactured since the 1970s in Britain, Challengers have a battle weight of 75 tons, a top speed of 59 km/h, a range of 550 km and four upset members. The vehicle is equipped with a tank gun for firing penetrative rods and high explosive ammunition.
In May 2021, the British Ministry of Defense proposed a contract to modernize 148 Challenger 2 main battle tanks of the British Army. The modernized vehicle, named Challenger 3, will be a digital and networked main battle tank with reduced lethality, improved survivability, and increased surveillance and target acquisition capabilities.
Minister of Defense Margarita Robles announced that Spain will send six Panther tanks to Ukraine after Easter, once they have been used for repair in Alcalá de Guadaira (Spain), although they are being tested in Córdoba.
Robles appeared in the plenary session of the Congress to account for these boats, decided that the Government was done without consultation in the Chamber before, as the two groups that requested explanations from the minister ERC and EH Bildu announced.
These six Leopards are part of the ten estates that Spain announced in February that it would donate to Ukraine. They are Model 2A4 and are among the more than fifty that have been in use for a decade and some have been stored in Army facilities (Zaragoza).
