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Battle tanks: Training on the Leopard 2 in Poland

2023-02-01T11:17:26.918Z


Polish soldiers train with Leopard 2 tanks near the German border – on the simulator and in the field. Ukrainians could soon be practicing military action here.


AreaRead the video transcript expand here

The Leopard 2 in action, at least during an exercise.

Here, in the training center in Swietoszow, Polish soldiers are still practicing how to use the main battle tank.

Soon, however, Ukrainians could also be trained on it.

Because a coalition of European countries has announced deliveries of Leopard 2 to Kyiv.

It is not known exactly where Ukrainian soldiers are to be trained.

According to local media, the place on the Polish-German border is considered likely.

Because here there is one of only three training centers for Leopard tanks in Europe, the others are in Germany and Switzerland.

Once training begins, Ukrainian troops could be deployed quickly.

Maciej Banaszynski, commander:


“If someone has worked with post-Soviet tanks, ten weeks of training on Leopard or Abrams tanks is sufficient.

If we intensify the training at the expense of the instructors and our weekend time, we can even train the entire crew in five weeks.”

There are various training courses in Swietoszow: for the tank crew, i.e. gunners, loaders and commanders, for drivers of the various models, and specialized courses for mechanics.

Each course has different levels - and starts in a simulator.

Lukasz Setny, Senior Instructor at the Leopard Training Center:


“The simulator allows us to prepare course participants for the devices that they will actually be responsible for later.

During training, the simulator is safer and poses no health risks. Only then do we let soldiers board the 60-ton tank.”

So far, the Ukrainian army still uses outdated tanks, so having used modern combat vehicles would make a huge difference.

Lukasz Setny, Senior Instructor Leopard Training Center:


»The Leopard tank is a third generation tank, that's the difference.

In varied terrain, it is more mobile compared to Russian tanks.

It can also be compared like this: It is easier and more comfortable to drive a used Mercedes than a new Fiat 126p.«

If Ukraine has its way, the training of its own soldiers on the new tanks cannot start quickly enough.

The Leopard 2 tanks could now also come from other countries: According to the newspaper El Paìs, Spain wants to deliver up to six of them to Ukraine.

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2023-02-01

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