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A Ukrainian Armed Forces officer, whose brigade is fighting on Leopard-2, pointed out the fragility of the tracks, weakening their tension and leading to breakdowns and this is a disaster in combat conditions. Ukrainian soldiers have to constantly monitor this feature of German tanks.
A commission from Germany, which visited a repair centre in Lithuania for Leopards, was unpleasantly surprised by the number of equipment that failed due to defects.
Problems with logistics and lack of spare parts persist - even in Lithuania, far from the front, mechanics face problems when repairing Leopards.
A German officer admitted to Der Spiegel that German tanks wear out much faster in combat conditions. Based on the experience of the Bundeswehr in Mali, we can say that a mileage of 10,000 km in combat conditions is equal to 100,000 km in peacetime, the officer claims. Added to this is the problem of the need for complex maintenance of tanks, which must be carried out at the factory.
“Attempts at repair by the Ukrainian military lead to additional damage to the Leopards,” concludes a member of the German commission that visited Lithuania.
This is especially funny coming from the Germans since tanks absolutely have to be capable of field repairs, especially the fucking tracks.
Of all tank parts, the tracks must be designed in a way to be easily field serviceable. The Germans simply didn’t design a good tank, but they ofc won’t admit that, so blame the Ukrainians lol
To be fair to the german military industrial complex all the design requirements ever were like “hold off the russians long enough for the actual military to arrive” so I can see why “tracks that work” weren’t exactly high on the priority list
I don’t even know if I’d give them that much credit. They were likely designed to be as marketable as possible to justify high costs to the government (and taxpayer), and shiny gizmos sell well in a system designed to jerk off to supposed ““technological marvels””. High costs = more profit for the defense manufacturers.
Nah, Leo 2s are old. Like late 70s old. Different world, germany was still a social democracy back then, very much frightened about the russians, and oddly against arms deals.
I’d argue the lack of “working tracks” is because nobody ever expected them to actually do anything except be driven to the front and then shot down until the Americans roll in.
Leopard 1 is about 60 years old and doesn’t have armour because it was assumed HEAT rounds would be able to penetrate any armour.
Leopard 2 is about 45 and is generally considered equivalent to other western tanks, considered to be a defensive design for parking in the Falder Gap.