The German companies Rheinmetall and Flensburger Fahrzeugbau Gesellschaft (FFG) have their own and quite significant stocks of Leopard 1 tanks. These tanks came to private companies as the vehicles were withdrawn from the service of the Bundeswehr, and this process itself ended in 2010.
In total, these two companies, as the German Handelsblatt writes with reference to its own sources, have 187 Leopard 1 tanks, of which 88 are owned by Rheinmetall and 99 by FFG. But the condition of these vehicles is completely different. Some of them, given their condition, simply do not make sense to restore. This is the total maximum resource, which can be further reduced due to the fact that some of the vehicles will have to be disassembled into assemblies and units in order to install them on other tanks to restore them.
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Therefore, the maximum number of Leopard 1 tanks that can be transferred from the stocks of the German defense industry is up to 160 vehicles.
In addition, the timing of the restoration of the tanks remains in question. In particular, a few weeks ago, Rheinmetall announced a rather staggering timeline for the restoration of armored vehicles.
Thus, the technological cycle of deconservation can range from several months for tanks that have been stored in the best condition to more than half a year. And in general, the supply of the tanks may last the entire current year and require the injection of "several hundred million euros".
Formally, 29 Leopard 1 tanks, which are still in the Bundeswehr's stockpile, can be added to this number. But their condition is also unknown, just as the exact versions of the tanks are generally not known. But if we take the maximum resource of private companies and the German armed forces, it is quite possible to reach the mark of about 200 vehicles, that is, in fact, a full fleet of two tank brigades.
To this mark, it is possible to add the stocks of the Belgian businessman Freddie Versluis, which is another 50 Leopard 1 tanks, of which no more than 33 vehicles are usable. At the same time, it must be taken into account that this is a Leopard 1A5, but the additional armor of the turret has been removed from the tanks.
We remind you that only Leopard 1A5 tanks, which have been modernized since the end of the 80s, can have relative real combat effectiveness, albeit at a rather controversial level. These vehicles have a full-fledged thermal sight and the EMES 18 fire control system, which is close to the Leopard 2A4 tank’s system.
As Defense Express reported, Germany officially proved sending Leopard 2 Tanks to Ukraine as well as approved their re-export from partner countries. We also wrote, that Canada has sent its first Leopard 2 tank to Ukraine while europeans hesitant about supplying the tanks.
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