On October 11, 2022, the Czech Ministry of Defense signed agreements with the German Ministry of Defense and the German Rheinmetall group to receive 14 Leopard 2A4 tanks and one BPz 3 Buff armored recovery vehicle based on the same tank. The equipment is transferred by the German side free of charge as compensation for the T-72M1 tanks previously transferred by the Czech Republic from storage to Ukraine. The total cost of the Czech contract is 157 million euros, including the repair and partial modernization of Leopard 2A4 tanks, the manufacture of BPz 3 Buffel BREMS, the supply of ammunition, spare parts, related property, three-year service maintenance and training of Czech personnel, and all this cost will be fully covered by the German government.
Leopard 2A4 Tank (Pz 87) of the Swiss Army (with) Nicola Pitaro / VBSLeopard 2A4 tanks transferred to the Czech Republic previously belonged to the armies of Germany and Switzerland, and after their decommissioning were bought by Rheinmetal Group, which will now carry out their deconservation, repair and partial modernization.
Tank deliveries will be made from December 2022 to the end of 2023. The BPz 3 Buff BRAM will be manufactured on the chassis of the Leopard 2A4 tank and will be delivered in mid-2024. The training of Czech personnel will begin at the German Army training center in Munster in October 2022.
In the Czech army, the Leopard 2A4 tanks delivered will become part of a separate company in Prajslavice, where the only active tank unit of the Czech Army is stationed - the 73rd Tank Battalion, which is currently armed with 30 upgraded T-72M4CZ tanks, The operation of Leopard 2A4 tanks in the Czech Republic will be conducted with the participation of Bundeswehr specialists and is considered as an experimental and training in order to prepare for the transition to the planned purchase of up to 50 Leopard 2A7+ tanks of new construction to replace the fleet of T-72M4CZ tanks.
According to a similar scheme, Germany offers compensatory (for the supply of T-72 tanks to Ukraine) supplies from the storage industry of batches of Leopard 2A4 tanks to Slovakia and Poland, but an agreement on this has not yet been reached. Poland requires at least 44 cars to be provided to it.
