The second reason why today’s decisions are a watershed is that Germany has stood up to be counted. This is a necessarily secretive area, but deployment will not happen at the flick of a switch.Ī demonstration demanding that German chancellor Olaf Scholz ‘Free the Leopards’, Berlin, 20 January 2023. Proper supply and maintenance lines must be established.
All the same, they all have to get to the battlefield. Germany’s Leopards, by contrast, are in Europe and can be serviced in Ukraine’s neighbouring countries. The New York Times reported US officials warning that deployment could take years. The US’s tanks are apparently still in North America. There is also the not inconsiderable matter of getting the tanks to the frontline. The current western total is still way short. Arnold says this war has shown that you need a lot of tanks on a modern battlefield. Today’s announcements in Berlin and elsewhere leave the number committed at fewer than 100. Two immediate caveats stand out – numbers and logistics. There is, though, a long way to go before that. But the most alluring potential of these weapons to Ukraine and its allies is that, if they are as successful as the hype implies, they could eventually put Kyiv in a position to dictate ceasefire and peace terms to Moscow. The tanks would also play a key role in defending Ukrainian lines against counterattack. These advantages give western tanks the potential to break through Russian lines and control the shape of the conflict across significant stretches of occupied territory. Even so, the modern western tanks’ control and navigation systems give them an all-round ability to operate in combined manoeuvres involving artillery and infantry, including at night, that the Russians cannot match. This also makes them heavier, which gives the lighter Russian tanks an advantage on boggy ground, of which there is no shortage in Ukraine once the thaw takes place. These western tanks all have greater mobility, more lethal firepower and stronger armour than those used by Russia.
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