Berlin Plans to Allow Transfer of Dozens of Leopard 1 Tanks to Ukraine from Industrial Warehouses

The German government plans to approve the transfer of dozens of repaired Leopard 1 tanks directly from the manufacturer's warehouses to Ukraine.

According to government sources, official permission has not yet been granted.

As ntv noted, citing government sources, that the companies Rheinmetall and Flensburger Fahrzeugbau Gesellschaft (FFG) want to prepare dozens of Leopard 1 tanks and could supply them to Ukraine to fight Russia. However, according to the report, there are still problems with the purchase of ammunition.

The Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo said Brazil had rejected a German request to sell tank ammunition last week. They say that it was about ammunition for Leopard tanks. In addition to Gepard anti-aircraft tanks, Brazil also has German-made Leopard 1 main battle tanks in service.

Last week, the federal government already decided to transfer 14 Leopard battle tanks from Bundeswehr stockpiles to Ukraine. In addition, it allowed other countries to supply such German-made tanks. According to Rheinmetall, the company can supply a total of 139 Leopard 1 and 2 tanks. The company's representative announced this last week in an interview with the Deutsche Welle news outlet.

The company can deliver 22 Leopard 2 battle tanks in less than a year from its stock. However, it is unclear when another 88 Leopard 1 vehicles from this weapon group will be ready. The 29 federal government tanks designed for the ring exchange scheme should be ready in the spring.

Bloomberg reported that mainstream politicians in Switzerland call for the sale of almost 100 preserved Leopard 2 tanks for a nominal fee to Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic instead of the tanks their governments plan to send to Ukraine.