Polish Leopard 2 delivery is major NATO milestone

Jane's ^ | September 27 2002 | Grzegorz Holdanowicz

[knighthawk]

Poland has formally accepted the first Leopard 2A4 main battle tanks (MBTs) that Germany is transferring to equip a complete Polish armoured brigade. The project, agreed between the two countries on 29 January, is a significant milestone in improving Poland's interoperability with other NATO forces (JDW 6 February).

The value of the package, which includes 128 MBTs, is between EUR300 million ($294 million) and EUR380 million. Poland will only have to pay the EUR22.5 million cost of moving the vehicles from storage. Germany will provide training for about 490 Polish crew members and maintenance personnel.

The 10th (Lt Gen Stanislaw Maczek) Armoured Cavalry Brigade received the following during a ceremony at its Swietoszow barracks: 15 Leopard 2A4s; 10 UNIMOG (universal motorised vehicle) 1300Ls for company maintenance personnel; and 30 Mercedes-Benz 1170 vehicles for the brigade's logistics battalion.

The brigade is assigned to Germany's 7th Armoured Division, which is allocated to NATO's Allied Command Europe Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC).

Poland is transforming the brigade into an all-professional formation and is due to achieve initial operational capability by the end of 2004. The first joint live training involving German and Polish armoured battalions is scheduled for mid-November at Poland's Zagan training area. Elements of the 10th Brigade's headquarters will participate with the German division in the ARRC's command post exercise 'Arrcade Fusion '02' in Germany in November.

[knighthawk]

Ping

[baxter999]

And the purpose of doing this is exactly what?

[AdA$tra]

Gives you warm fuzzy's compared to last time German
tanks rolled into Poland.

[knighthawk]

For starters, Germany is rid of some of their old junk.

And now they can hold joint excercizes better.

[knighthawk]

And it's even more warm since Germany is defening a mad dictator, like the one they voted for back in 1933.

[BushMeister]

Well, the Leopard 2A4 is hardly "junk". It's an excellent tank, still one of the best in the world.

Here's the latest Leopard, the A6 EX:

As for why this is being done, Poland, as part of NATO, now gets to be first on the firing line if any danger comes from the East.

[FreedomPoster]

Gives you warm fuzzy's compared to last time German tanks rolled into Poland.

I am both amazed and no-longer-amazed at the speed at which FReepers come up with the perfect commentary on news items. Bravo!

[FreedomPoster]

As for why this is being done, Poland, as part of NATO, now gets to be first on the firing line if any danger comes from the East.

Spot-on. Also your comment about the quality of the Leopard 2.

This Polish brigade now fills the role of the old 11th ACR in the Fulda Gap before reunification, should the Russians get "frisky" again.

[baxter999]

Aren't the Russians part-members of Nato also? And doesn't NATO exist as a sub-UN organization? And didn't Nato cause the Kosovo fiasco where we allowed Marxist narco-terrorists to take control of a portion of a sovereign country?

And I thought Russia was on our side now that Bush and KGB head Putin are such good "friends".

[VaBthang4]

_____________________________________________________

The A4

[VaBthang4]

A3

A4
Foreign Service A4

A5

Couldnt an find A6 profile.

[rmlew]

Is it just me, or does that look alot like a M1 Abrams?
(I don't just mean the 120mm Rhinemetal canon).
All western MBT's serious look alike. Does the Leopard II have Chatham composite armor?

[John H K]

The deal with composite armor, I believe, is that it's really hard to form it in curves, so all modern tanks with it have that similar "boxy" look.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

This is just another move to fight the last war, forget Viet Nam, think WWII and Korea. Rumsfield is wise to move beyond this. These things are sitting ducks for weapons-carrying drones, missile carrying helocopters, and cruise type missiles. The new military will be swift and mobile, distant and deadly.