Image source: topwar.ru
German Defense Minister Kristina Lambrecht sent a letter to the head of the Polish military department, Mariusz Blaszczak, in which she dwells on the issue of supplying Warsaw with military equipment instead of the one that was transferred to Ukraine. Lambrecht offers Warsaw to jointly purchase new Leopard tanks, or transfer a large number of old Leopard tanks or Marder infantry fighting vehicles.
The letter from the German Defense Minister was sent after Polish officials publicly expressed dissatisfaction with Germany's actions after Poland handed over more than 200 T-72 tanks to Ukraine.
Germany has analyzed all options for providing assistance to Poland with armored vehicles. As a result, it was found that it was not possible to help Warsaw from the reserves of the Bundeswehr. The German army itself is experiencing a shortage of military equipment in connection with supplies to Ukraine.
The German Ministry of Defense has made another proposal – to jointly purchase a modern version of the Leopard 2 tanks. This will happen later than the old tanks could be transferred to the German army, but Poland will have priority when delivering a new version of tanks.
Lambrecht in her letter expressed hope for further development of allied relations with Poland and thanked the Polish authorities for the rapid support of Polish tanks to the Ukrainian army. Meanwhile, earlier Polish Defense Minister Blaszczak told the press that Berlin offered the Polish army 20 Leopard 2A4 tanks, the first of which was to be delivered next year. This was mentioned in one of his speeches by the deputy of the Bundestag from the Christian Democratic Union, Roderich Kiesewetter. But he called a much larger figure – 44 tanks of this type. However, even this amount will only be enough to equip one tank battalion, experts emphasize.
In Poland, they are worried that the supply of German tanks, even in the old version, may not happen. Previously, many tanks were converted into self-propelled bridge-laying machines. Since 2017, there has been a process of restoring Leopard 2A4 tanks previously withdrawn from the Bundeswehr in the amount of 68 vehicles.
According to the UN Register of conventional weapons, as of the end of 2021, over 600 Leopard 2 tanks were in service in Germany, and this number also includes decommissioned vehicles and tanks in industrial warehouses. The Bundeswehr itself uses only modifications of recent years. In addition, 12 Leopard 2A4 tanks have been transferred to Hungary in recent years, and another 15 tanks are planned to be transferred to the Czech Republic. A similar number of tanks can also be transferred to Slovakia.
But if Germany cannot transfer even about 50 Leopard 2A4 tanks to Poland, this may indicate that the tanks stored in warehouses were used as a base for spare parts. Therefore, they cannot be used due to incomplete configuration of parts. Such machines can become the basis for modernization, but it will be impossible to restore them to service.
Meanwhile, Polish media reported that Warsaw was offered 100 Leopard 1A5 tanks or Marder infantry fighting vehicles. Leopard 1A5 tanks were decommissioned by the Bundeswehr in 2003. Almost twenty years have passed, so the acquisition of such tanks would be an irrational step for Poland. Poland considers the proposal to transfer the Marder BMP to be more interesting. If they were transferred to Poland, Warsaw would be able to transfer the BMP-2 to Ukraine, and not just the older BMP-1.
