What Use Are Outdated Leopard 1A5 Tanks for Ukraine?
Leopard 2 tanks were developed to replace the Leopard 1A5 tanks and the existing tanks were subjected to some modernisation projects by most countries or started to be used more in reconnaissance units.
Leopard 1 is a German-made 2nd generation main battle tank. It first entered the service of the German Federal Army in 1965. The German company Kraus Maffei Weggman started mass production in 1965 and continued to produce improved models until 1984. These tanks were also purchased by Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Greece and Turkey.
Leopard 1 has one 105mm cannon, one 7.62mm turret machine gun, one 7.62mm anti-aircraft machine gun and 2x4 smoke mortar. The tank has a crew of four and weighs 42,400 kg.
The tank can travel at a maximum speed of 62 km/h and the maximum distance it can travel with one tank is 600 km. The armour of the tank, which has a pressurised type NBC system, consists of welded steel plates. The tank has undergone many modernisations since its first production and different models have been produced, which will be mentioned below.
Leopard 1A1
It is the first modernised version of the project started in November 1956 for the German Land Forces. This model has a new fire control system and a thermal imaging camera, which the old tank did not have. In addition, the tank was fitted with skirt armour and additional armour on the turret.
Leopard 1A2
Produced in 1972 and 1974, this model had reinforced turret armour, digital radio and new night vision systems.
Leopard 1A3
The most important change in this model is the armour. The armour consists of two layers, the first layer is made of compressed plastic and the second layer is made of steel. More advanced radio and night vision systems were also added to this model.
Leopard 1A4
In this model, a new fire control system and vision systems to increase situational awareness were added to the tank. In this model, which started to be delivered in 1974, the number of ammunition decreased to 55.
Leopard 1A5
In the 1980 modernisation programme, additions were made to increase the tank's mobility in all weather conditions and to bring the fire control system in line with current technology. During the modernisation, the turret of the tank was also improved and the 105 mm gun was replaced with a 120 mm gun.
Leopard 1A6
Only 1 prototype was produced and serial production was not started.
Assessment
As can be seen, the Leopard 1A5 is the most recently developed version of the Leopard 1 tank. As can be understood from the information given above, the Leopard 1A5 is a tank produced during the Cold War period and developed to defeat the Russian tanks that were assumed to face each other during this period.
Since the end of the Cold War, tank and anti-tank technologies continued to develop and these tanks were no longer sufficient to take to the battlefields. For this reason, Leopard 2 tanks were developed to replace the Leopard 1A5 tanks and the existing tanks were subjected to some modernisation projects by most countries or started to be used more in reconnaissance units.
Most countries have also started to completely remove these tanks from the inventory. Nevertheless, in the Ukraine-Russia war that started in 2022, European countries that had these tanks gave them to Ukraine, and this situation was welcomed by Ukraine and the tanks were taken and used in battles.
First, on 25 April 2022, the German Rheinmetall company requested the German government to deliver 88 Leopard 1A5 main battle tanks to Ukraine. Then, on 01 February 2023, it was announced that Denmark planned to donate 20 refurbished Leopard 1A5 tanks to Ukraine.
On 7 February 2023, the Defence Ministers of Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands issued a joint statement announcing that Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands would supply Ukraine with 100 refurbished Leopard 1A5 Main Battle Tanks from private companies.
On 4 March 2023, the German company Rheinmetall announced its readiness to supply Ukraine with approximately 100 Leopard 1A5 tanks. On 11 March 2023, the Danish Ministry of Defence announced its plan to deliver 100 Leopard 1A5 tanks to Ukraine in cooperation with Germany and the Netherlands.
On 20 July 2023, the German Ministry of Defence announced the delivery of the first batch of 10 Leopard 1A5 tanks to Ukraine. Soon, however, there were reports that Leopard tanks were as easily shot and destroyed as Russian tanks.
In fact, this is not an unexpected situation, although it is not explicitly stated. Because Leopard 1A5 is an old tank from the Cold War period. For this reason, it is not suitable to be used in offensive operations today, when anti-tank weapons have developed very much.
As a matter of fact, when the Leopard 1A5s proved to be vulnerable, Ukraine stopped using them in offensive operations. However, it did not discard them completely. Ukraine does not use Leopard 1A5s as a manoeuvring element, but as a self-propelled gun to provide visual fire support to infantry units. It also uses them for almost every task that does not require a main battle tank.
But why did the Western countries give these tanks to Ukraine when they were aware of their inadequacies? Moreover, why did Ukraine buy these tanks when it was aware of this?
The most important reason for the Europeans to give these tanks was that they had a large number of these tanks. Moreover, most European countries had removed or were about to remove these tanks from their inventories. Therefore, the cost of giving these tanks was very low.
The countries that gave these tanks had filled or were about to fill the tank cadres in their armies with different models of Leopard 2. If the war, which was still unpredictable, were to spread, giving Leopard 2 tanks could weaken the defences of their countries. Giving them Leopard 1A5s, which they no longer used, would not have weakened the strength of their own armies.
On the other hand, spare parts for Leopard 1A5 tanks, maintenance workshops and maintenance personnel were plentiful in the countries around Ukraine. In other words, when these tanks broke down or were hit in such a way that they were not completely destroyed, it was possible to repair them in a short time and return them to the battlefield.
Another issue was the unpredictability of whether Ukraine would be able to hold out against Russia and, if so, for how long. If Russia defeated the Ukrainian army in a short period of time, more modern tanks provided by the West could fall into Russian hands. Russia could then use these tanks for technology transfer.
One of the main reasons for Ukraine to buy these tanks was the possibility of obtaining large quantities of these tanks in a short time. But the main reason was that Ukraine had very few tanks. These tanks were old tanks from the Soviet era and were not more advanced than the Leopard 1A5s. In other words, Ukraine had to buy all kinds of tanks given by the West in any case.
Moreover, these tanks were in some respects better than the Russian tanks fighting against them. For example, even if the Leopard tanks were destroyed, the personnel casualties were less than those of the Russian tanks. Hit tanks could also be recovered from the battlefield, sent for repair and returned intact soon afterwards.
This changed as the war became more static and Russia abandoned the offensive and went on the defensive. After that, British Challenger 2 and German Leopard 2 tanks were sent to Ukraine to increase the manoeuvrability and mobility of the Ukrainian army, which was preparing for a general counter-offensive during the winter.
The Americans, on the other hand, as the Europeans had done at the beginning, refurbished the Abrams 1 tanks that they had removed or were about to remove from their inventory. For this reason, American tanks have been used for security duties in areas far from the front line since their arrival in the country, except for one incident in which a company suffered heavy casualties in a clash with the Russians.
