The British newspaper "The Guardian" published interesting material Pjotr Sauer "Belgian buyer of Europe's spare tanks hopes they see action in Ukraine. OIP built up a huge private arsenal, banking on there one day being demand for the weapons again" ("The Belgian buyer of decommissioned tanks in Europe hopes they will see the fighting in Ukraine. OIP has created a huge private arsenal, betting that one day the demand for weapons will arise again") about a significant arsenal of decommissioned military equipment stored by the Belgian company OIP Land Systems (formerly Sabiex International), part of which is now being considered for possible supplies to Ukraine.
The head of the Belgian company OIP Land Systems Freddy Versluys on the background of Leopard 1A5(BE) tanks in storage in Tours (Belgium), acquired after the decommissioning by the Belgian army (c) Pjotr Sauer / The GuardianOn the outskirts of Tournai, a sleepy medieval town in the gentle, Bruegel landscape of the French-speaking part of Belgium, there is an unassuming gray hangar, barely hidden behind a fence.
Inside, German-made Leopard 1 tanks and other heavy combat vehicles stand side by side behind the rows - some of those weapons images that top the Ukrainian military's wish list.
The hangar belongs to the Belgian defense company OIP and contains one of the largest private armament depots in Europe. "Many of these tanks have been standing here for years. I hope now the time has come when they will finally see some fighting in Ukraine," said Freddy Versluis, head of the OIP, inspecting the hangar.
"Here we have 50 [tanks] Leopard 1," he said, pointing. - "We also have 38 German tanks [anti-aircraft self-propelled guns] Gepard, 112 Austrian SK-105 [Kürassier] light tanks, 100 Italian VCC2 and 70 M113 armored personnel carriers."
In total, his firm has about 500 armored vehicles in stock, "probably the largest private arsenal of tanks in Europe," according to Versluys, who has extensive experience in the military sector.
After completing his military service, Versluys worked for nine years in the Belgian army in the unit responsible for quality control of tanks and ammunition. In 1989, he joined OIP, a firm specializing in optical equipment, where he eventually founded OIP Land Systems, a subsidiary that bought up old military equipment, hoping that one day there would be demand for it again.
"Everything we do here is legal, we act according to the rules and have all the necessary licenses," he said, shrugging his shoulders in response to the label of "arms dealer."
Walking along the narrow cobbled streets and boulevards of Tournai, it is difficult to imagine that such a weapon is only a 15-minute walk away. Versluys has bought up most of its current inventory over the past two decades, purchasing tanks directly from European governments that were cutting their defense spending.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, European countries sought to replace some of the heavy and expensive-to-maintain Cold War tanks with lighter vehicles needed for shorter peacekeeping missions around the world. Defense spending cuts accelerated due to the 2008 economic crisis, and by 2014, when Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea, European military spending had reached a historic low.
As part of one of Versluys' major deals, he bought 50 Leopard 1 [Leopard 1A5(BE)] tanks, which the Belgian government wrote off in 2014, for 37,000 euros each. "It was a market price because of the geopolitical situation at the time," he said. "But buying these decommissioned tanks was a big gamble for us. Big, big risk."
The Leopard 1, released in the 1960s, is lighter and less powerful than the newer Leopard 2 tanks, 14 of which Germany agreed last week to send to Ukraine, but German officials said they[Leopard 1] would still be able to compete with Russian tanks.
For many years, Versluys could not sell Leopard 1 and Gepard, as German law requires Berlin's approval to re-export its military equipment. But the [German] Chancellor's decision Olaf Scholz's last week on Leopard 2 tanks, which opened the floodgates for other European countries to follow suit, opened up new opportunities.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent unprecedented military support of Kiev from the West has already led to Versluys selling 46 M113 light armored personnel carriers to the UK, which then transferred them to Ukraine as part of a military assistance package [we are talking about the former Belgian M113A1-B- bmpd armored personnel carriers]. Belgium, which has no tanks left in its arsenal, is exploring the possibility of buying back [for delivery to Ukraine] Leopard 1 tanks sold to Versluys.
Last week, Belgian Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder said she had started negotiations with OIP, but accused the firm of trying to make a "huge profit" from the sale. "Negotiations are still ongoing, but I am not going to pay half a million [euros] for a tank that is not even close to combat-ready," Dedonder told Belgian media.
Versluys denied that the Belgian government had approached him and said it was difficult to name the price at which he would sell the tanks. "It makes no sense to talk about prices now, because we need to check the condition of each tank and what needs to be updated," he said.
He stressed that it may take months and up to 1 million euros to repair each tank to prepare them for use in Ukraine. "These cars need a new engine, shock absorbers, new radar stations [apparently, they mean for the Gepard ZSU. - bmpd] - the list can be continued."
Versluys said that he was recently approached by the state exporter and importer of weapons of Ukraine about the possibility of buying his tanks. According to him, the British-led Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), a group consisting of 10 Northern European states, has also been in touch with him since Germany announced the transfer of its Leopard tanks to [Ukraine]. "We are open to all options," Versluis said. "But the price should be fair, we are not a charity organization."
And although Germany has lifted the ban on Leopard exports, other obstacles remain. OIP is still unable to sell its large stock of Austrian-made SK-105 light tanks because Vienna has not approved exports. "It's a big shame because they are in good condition and easy to prepare," Versluis said.
There is a debate in Brussels about whether it was short-sighted to write off their tanks. "Looking back, it would be too easy to say that getting rid of tanks was a mistake," said Joe Koelmont, a senior researcher at the Royal Higher Institute of Defense and a former brigadier general of the Belgian Army. - "After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was simply unimaginable that there would be a World War II-style battle in Europe. Due to the reduction of the state defense budget, the army had to make decisions, and the reduction of old and expensive tanks was the most logical choice."
In the hangar, Versluys rejected accusations by some in Belgium that he was trying to cash in on the war. "Everyone thinks we make a lot of money, but look around, so far the hangar is full," he said.
"We bought these tanks when no one needed them. Now I would really like to see them in Ukraine."
From the bmpd side, we point out that OIP Land Systems, the former Sabiex International, founded in 1967, is a long-standing and well-known Belgian arms trader, and is now a subsidiary of the OIP group (Optique et Instruments de Précision), a Belgian manufacturer of optical equipment that has existed since 1919, controlled by Israeli Elbit Systems since 2013.
As already noted in the material, earlier in 2022, OIP Land Systems sold 46 M113A1-B armored personnel carriers of the Belgian licensed production of the 1980s from its storage to the UK for subsequent delivery to Ukraine (these armored personnel carriers in January 2023 were noted in combat operations in the Donbas). At the same time, contrary to earlier reports, 22 M109A4BE self-propelled howitzers similarly acquired by the UK and transferred to Ukraine, which had also been decommissioned by the Belgian army, were taken from storage not by OIP Land Systems, but by another Belgian company FTS in Tisselt.
Former Austrian SK-105A2 Kürassier light tanks in storage of the Belgian company OIP Land Systems in Tournai (Belgium) (c) Pjotr Sauer / The GuardianOne of the Leopard 1A5(BE) tanks decommissioned by the Belgian army, stored by the Belgian company OIP Land Systems in Tournai (Belgium) (c) Pjotr Sauer /
The Guardian
