More Leopard tanks will soon leave for Ukraine by rail transfer

The Minister of Defense of Spain, Mrs. Margarita Robles, announced this Friday that the first six Leopard 2A4s that Spain will deliver to Ukraine are already in Poland.

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Mrs. Robles announced at the signing of the FCAS contract in Madrid that this consignment had arrived at a Polish port. The tanks will now be transferred by rail to the border with Ukraine, added the Minister of Defense at the ceremony with the Ministers of Defense of France, Mr. Sebastien Lecorneux, and of Germany, Mr. Boris Pistorius.

Robles thanked the latter for the coordination work of the coalition, which supplies Leopard MBTs in different versions to Ukraine. “This is a very important step,” said the defense minister about the arrival of this material at the front.

The tanks traveled to Poland on a vessel chartered by the Ministry of Defense for the transfer, along with a second shipment of Transport Oruga Acorazados [TOA] donated by Spain. The boat sailed last week from the port of Santander. The department already used this route for the delivery of the first TOA early last February.

Fine-tuned

These Leopards were fine-tuned in record time between February and early March at the Santa Bárbara Sistemas facilities at Alcalá de Guadaíra in Seville and later underwent shooting and shooting tests conducted by the Army at Cerro Muriano [Córdoba] in late March. The main components of the tanks were also checked: undercarriage, engines, turret, shock absorbers, barrel, and firing mechanism.

Finally, they returned to the Santa Bárbara Sistemas facilities to correct minor defects observed in the field that could not be repaired on-site, prior to final shipment to Ukraine.

Four other leopards

Spain is preparing to donate four more Leopard 2A4 tanks. However, the defense minister said “they were in worse shape”. They are currently in the Santa Bárbara Sistemas plant for fine tuning. According to the Spanish Ministry of Defense, the adjustment of the four tanks will be completed within two months.

The ten tanks left the army’s facilities in Casetas, near Zaragoza, where fifty decommissioned Leopard 2A4s have been stored in various states of preservation for a decade.

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