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Ukraine is tirelessly asking its partners to provide modern Western tanks so that it could launch longer, stronger, more effective counterattacks to liberate its occupied territories. However, no Leopard, Abrams, Leclerc, or similar tanks have been delivered to Ukraine. On the other hand, Ukraine already has Leopard 1- based machines.
The Biber is a Leopard 1-based bridgelayer. Image credit: Marco Dorow via Wikimedia
People have been speculating on the reasons why Ukraine’s Western allies are hesitant to provide tanks to the defenders of Ukraine. While tanks are highly capable machines, they do not require such long training periods as, for example, fighter jets or missile systems. And it is not like Ukraine is fighting an extremely advanced army – Russia is using a lot of older armor, which means that older versions of Leopard or Abrams tanks would be a significant help to Ukraine, too.
Some say that Western countries do not want their machinery to perform poorly in Ukraine due to a lack of necessary skills and maintenance tools, or due to a theoretical possibility of leaking technical information to Russia. However, the actual reasons for this hesitancy appear to be different.
Ukraine’s Western allies do not want to become direct participants in this war. If this wasn’t a concern, ATACMS missiles, A-10 attack jets, all kinds of combat drones, and other modern weapon systems would already be on their way to Ukraine.
Main battle tanks are huge assets and providing them could warrant Russia to attack bases in Western countries to prevent these packages from being sent. “We support Ukraine as much as possible. But we also prevent a direct military conflict between NATO and Russia”, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz commented on the topic of sending Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.
It seems like the first country to make this decision could encourage others, as Scholz underlined that other countries are not sending their tanks either and Germany doesn’t want to make solo decisions. On the other hand, Ukraine is getting to know Leopards anyway.
The Biber armored bridgelayer, based on the Leopard 1 tank, is already serving in Ukraine. Its task is to help other machines cross rivers, channels, and other difficult terrains. It is literally a mobile bridge.
Different from typical tanks: Biber is very mobile, but can help other machines cross quite wide difficult areas. Image credit: Ministerie van Defensie via Wikimedia
The Biber carries a bridge, which is 22 meters long and can be extended in just 2-3 minutes. It can withstand loads of up to 55 tonnes. The Biber is unarmed, which is not unusual with military engineering machines, but it would never work alone anywhere close to the contact zones, where the enemy could reach it.
Back in the summer, Germany announced that it will send 16 armored bridge layers to Ukraine. It was reported that 3 of these vehicles are already serving the defenders of Ukraine and others are expected. The Biber was filmed in Ukraine as well.
#Ukraine: The first video showing a German-donated Biber armored bridgelayer 🇩🇪 in use with the Ukrainian army – this particular one apparently already put a bridge in place, hence sections are missing.
Ukraine already received 3 of these with 13 more to be delivered soon. pic.twitter.com/yWI8e53VTM— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) December 25, 2022
Tanks are important, but it is a huge topic for debate. It might take a year for any kind of breakthrough made in that regard. Hopefully, Ukraine will receive modern tanks soon enough for them to make a difference in this war.
Sources: Wikipedia, Defence-ua.com
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