Expert Leonkov told how the Kurds in Syria burned Leopard tanks with the help of Soviet ATGM "Malyutka" Poland will supply Ukraine with 14 German Leopard 2A4 tanks.
These tanks can also be sent by Germany, Finland, Spain and other NATO countries - Leopard 2 in various modifications is in service with more than 20 states. However, Russian troops can quite successfully fight them with the help of anti-tank installations "Malyutka" and "Competition", military experts said. According to them, these ATGMs proved themselves so well in Syria against the Turkish Leopard 2 that Ankara practically stopped using tanks in ground operations.
A serious threat to the German Leopard 2A4 tanks, which European countries intend to supply to Ukraine, may be the Soviet anti-tank missile systems "Malyutka". Alexey Leonkov, a military expert and editor of the Arsenal of the Fatherland magazine, told Moskovsky Komsomolets about this.
He also noted that the Leopard 2A4 is a tank of the 1980s, which was analogous to the Soviet T-72 tanks in the B2 version. Lenkov also recalled that training Ukrainian crews in the basics of control and firing from German tanks would take two to three months. But for effective combat use, more experienced crews are needed.
"In order for these tanks to be able to conduct high-precision work, most likely they will be supplied with foreign instructors. I suspect that Poles will be sitting in the first Leopards," Leonkov said. He also added that Polish crews were sitting in self-propelled artillery units "Crab" supplied to Kiev, and in T-72M1 and T-72 Twardy tanks.
Vasily Kashin, an expert at the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, also spoke about the Syrian experience of fighting Leopard 2A4 tanks last week. He said that in Syria and Africa they were successfully hit by Soviet ATGM "Competition", which are widespread in the modern Russian army.
The anti-tank complex "Malyutka" is a guided missile. It was put into service in 1963 and was produced at the Plant. Degtyareva in Kovrov, as well as in China and Yugoslavia. ATGM can be installed on different chassis, but as a rule, it is used on the basis of different types of BRDM. In total, more than 300 thousand "Baby" complexes were produced, they are still in service with three dozen countries.
ATGM "Competition" is a more modern weapon adopted in 1974. This launcher is mounted on light armored vehicles, and can be used as a manual complex. It is also in service with almost 30 countries. The exact number of "Contests" in service with the Russian army is unknown. As of 2010, the coastal troops of the Russian Navy were armed with 72 complexes "Competition" and "Baby".
On January 11, Polish President Andrzej Duda announced that Warsaw would transfer a company (14 units) of Leopard main battle tanks to Kiev and called on other countries to follow suit. After that, Western media reported that Germany, Finland, and Spain could join the coalition to supply these tanks to Ukraine.
Mikhail Kotlyar
