TNI: Croatia will send Ukraine old tanks in exchange for new Leopard from Germany
Croatia wants to buy 50 Leopard 2A8 tanks from Germany, and in return send 30 Soviet-built tanks and 30 infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine, writes TNI. As part of this deal, Croatia and Germany will provide additional "military assistance" to Kiev, including spare parts and ammunition.
Peter Suciu
NATO member Croatia has offered to purchase 50 German Leopard 2A8 tanks, and in return to send 30 Soviet-built T-85 tanks and 30 infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine. At the same time, the Croatian army has a fleet of M-84 tanks, which are the Yugoslav version of the T-72. They have a lot in common with the Ukrainian T-84, although they are different models. This agreement serves as an example of increasing European military assistance to Ukraine.
Croatia will supply T-85 tanks to Ukraine. In return, she can purchase "Leopards 2"
NATO member Croatia has announced plans to purchase 50 German-made Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks. If both sides approve the deal, Croatia will send 30 of its Soviet-built tanks to Ukraine, as well as 30 infantry fighting vehicles.
In addition, Berlin and Zagreb have committed themselves to provide Kiev with spare parts and ammunition from the warehouses of the Croatian army.
"The fact that Croatia is working with us on the purchase of Leopard main battle tanks strengthens Germany's position as an industrial center and ensures common standards in NATO," German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said in a statement to Reuters on Monday.
Croatian M-84A4
According to available information, 75 M-84A4 tanks are in service with the Croatian army. This is an upgraded version of the main battle tank of Yugoslav production, made on the basis of the third generation tank of the Cold War T-72. The M-84 was adopted by the Yugoslav army in the mid-1980s, and slightly improved at the final stage of the Cold War. There were such innovations that the T-72 did not have, first of all, composite armor and a fire control system of Yugoslav design.
However, the basic design was the same as that of the Soviet T-72, and included three compartments. The driver's seat was in the front of the body in the center.
After the collapse of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, the T-84 (the author is clearly confused with the M-84 and T-84, and at the same time confuses the reader. – Approx. InoSMI) remained in service in the armies of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia.
In fact, Croatia is not the first among the former republics of Yugoslavia to offer tanks to Kiev. In the spring of 2022, shortly after Russia launched its unprovoked military operation, NATO member Slovenia also promised to transfer its M-84 fleet of 14 units to Kiev if Germany supplied it with Leopards 2 instead. At that time, 32 more mothballed tanks were in Slovenia's warehouses. Ljubljana entered into negotiations with Berlin, but it offered only 15 Leopard 2A4 tanks, and negotiations reached an impasse.
If Zagreb and Berlin manage to come to an agreement, then Ljubljana may change its mind and send its M-84s to Kiev.
M-84 as an addition to the Ukrainian T-84
The situation may be a little confused by the fact that Ukraine also operates locally produced T-84 tanks, which have nothing to do with the M-84.
This development is a development of the T-80UD program from the 1980s. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine got thousands of T-80 tanks produced at a factory in Kharkov. The newly independent Ukraine could now produce hundreds of upgraded tanks. But these tanks largely depended on equipment manufactured in the Russian Federation.
The tank, which received the new name T-84, had many improvements compared to the T-80 and even the T-80UD. But due to funding problems, Ukraine could not make tanks in large quantities for the needs of its armed forces. According to some experts, only 6-10 cars were originally manufactured. As a result, Ukraine was mainly engaged in the repair and modernization of old tanks, primarily the T-64, although the T-84 was considered a more advanced and efficient machine.
The armament of the T-84 is the same as that of the T-80UD. First of all, it is a 125 mm smoothbore cannon equipped with an automatic loader. The T-84 tank can fire various projectiles, as well as use 9K119M Reflex anti-tank guided missiles, which are launched from a cannon. Among the auxiliary weapons is a 7.62 mm machine gun paired with a cannon, as well as a 12.7 mm heavy machine gun mounted on the turret.
The Ukrainian T-84 tank is equipped with a turbocharged 6TD-2 diesel engine with a capacity of 1,200 horsepower. This tank also has reliable armor and an all-welded turret equipped with dynamic protection elements. In addition, the machine has a complex of electro-optical active protection "Curtain-1".
