Ukraine has about a hundred Leopard 1 tanks

Despite the delays in the delivery and refurbishment of equipment, Ukraine has already received up to 100 Leopard 1 tanks and will receive more by the end of this year.

The German publication WirtschaftsWoche reported on this.

Based on the results of their inquiries to the ministries and defense companies, the journalists of the publication found out the status of the delivery of the promised Leopard 1 tanks to Ukraine.

According to the Flensburger Fahrzeugbau Gesellschaft (FFG), which is responsible for restoring and modernizing the mothballed vehicles, more than half of the tanks were transferred under the deal. In fact, it regards at least 60 out of 110 tanks.

According to an official response from the Danish Ministry of Defense, in addition to the above-mentioned tanks, Denmark has modernized and transferred 30 more tanks. This means that Ukraine has a total of about 90 tanks of this type.

The publication’s sources in the armored industry also said that by the end of June this year, 20 more tanks would arrive in Ukraine, and by the end of the summer, a total of 45 tanks were planned to be delivered. Accordingly, in 2024, the Ukrainian army will have 135 repaired and modernized Leopard 1s.

Restoration of old equipment

The Leopard 1 tanks that are being transferred to Ukraine were decommissioned by European countries in the 1980s and have been in open-air storage for a long time. So the vehicles are in poor condition and must undergo major repairs before they can be returned to service.

FFG said that there were problems with the restoration of the first tanks, as they had been in extremely poor condition, which was unexpected. This led to the delay in deliveries.

In addition, the technical re-registration of the tanks, which were delivered to Denmark in 1974, proved difficult. There was no evidence that the tanks, some of which were 50-60 years old, were safe to use.

According to those involved in the project, once the technical issues were resolved, they were able to catch up with the schedule. Only crew training and requests for additional training for Ukrainian maintenance technicians led to the delays in the delivery of the tanks.

“Together with Ukraine, we have determined that additional training is needed. Therefore, about 30 tanks are to remain in Germany for a longer period of time,” said Beckers, a representative of FFG.

The Western media note that, together with German Marder infantry fighting vehicles, the restored Leopard 1 tanks are to form the basis of the armored group of the Ukrainian Air Assault Forces, in particular the 25th Airborne Brigade.