Enlarge image
Leopard 1 tanks during an exercise in 2000
Photo: ECKEHARD SCHULZ / AP
The armaments group Rheinmetall is preparing to deliver main battle tanks to Ukraine.
This is the Leopard 1, as CEO Armin Papperger told the "Handelsblatt".
This is the predecessor of the Leopard 2 currently used in the Bundeswehr.
"The first Leopard 1 could be delivered in six weeks." The prerequisite for this is the approval of the federal government.
Most recently, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock indicated a change of course in the previously restrictive approval of exports of offensive weapons such as tanks.
The Green politician said: "Ukraine needs more military material, especially heavy weapons."
Tanks from old stocks of other armies
As Papperger told the "Handelsblatt", Rheinmetall could deliver up to 50 Leopard 1 to the armed forces of Ukraine.
The main battle tanks are old stocks from other armies;
they often return used equipment to the suppliers.
Papperger is quoted as saying that the condition of the vehicles is currently being checked.
According to the information, the Ukrainian soldiers can be trained to use the Leopard 1 within a few days.
The prerequisite for this is that they are trained military personnel, he said.
He contradicted statements that training Western tanks for use in Ukraine would take too long - and that old Soviet tanks from the stocks of today's NATO partners should be handed over to Ukraine.
The delivery could take place via the subsidiary Rheinmetall Italia and take place over a period of up to three months.
In Germany there had recently been a debate about the delivery of Marder-type armored personnel carriers.
After Ukraine demanded heavy weapon systems, Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said that hardly any weapons or material could come from Germany, otherwise the country's defense capability would be endangered.
Apr
