The Ukrainian Army Is Getting Leopard 1 Tanks

Germany has pledged to Ukraine 88 Leopard 1A5 tanks. The ex-German Leopard 1s, combined with another 20 tanks of the same model that Denmark plans to donate, could equip an entire Ukrainian tank brigade.

The 1980s-vintage Leopard 1A5, designed and produced by Rheinmetall, isn’t the most modern tank in the world. But it’s roughly contemporaneous with the Leopard 2A4—and indeed shares many subsystems with its bigger, heavier cousin.

Most critically, the Leopard 1A5 has decent optics and fire-control and an effective main gun—the 105-millimeter Royal Ordnance L7. The Ukrainian army already is familiar with the L7, as the rifled gun also arms those 28 super-upgraded M-55S tanks that Slovenia donated last year.

The Ukrainians also are familiar with the Leopard 1’s hull, engine, transmission and suspension. The Ukrainian army operates 38 ex-German engineering vehicles that have Leopard 1 chassis.

The biggest weakness of the 40-ton, four-person Leopard 1A5 is that it’s thinly armored by modern standards. Additional armor protection, along with a bigger main gun, was the main requirement that drove the development of the 70-ton Leopard 2.

But there are hundreds of Leopard 1A5s in storage across Europe, including—and this is critical—a couple hundred in warehouses belonging to Rheinmetall and German arms firm FFG Flensburger. Both companies have kept the old tanks in good shape.

The Leopard 1s Germany has pledged to Ukraine will come from Rheinmetall’s holdings. Denmark meanwhile plans to buy at least 20, and potentially 40, Leopard 1s from FFG Flensburger for onward transfer.

All that is to say, Ukraine should get a whole brigade’s worth of Leopard 1s fast—potentially faster than it can piece together a brigade set of heavier Leopard 2s. And a lot faster than it will get its new, American-made M-1A2 tanks.

If Ukrainian tankers are smart, they’ll deploy their Leopard 1A5s in ways that leverage the tanks’ strengths while mitigating their weaknesses.

That means using the Leopard 1s as fire support for fast-moving mechanized infantry. When the infantry run into a Russian strongpoint, they’ll call in the tanks to put a few 105-millimeter rounds into the Russian position.

It means not sending the tanks into direct combat with Russian tanks, whose 125-millimeter main guns would punch right through the Leopard 1s’ thin armor.