Over half of the German-made Leopard 1 tanks donated by Denmark and Germany to Ukraine reportedly have significant technical faults.
In February, the German Defense Minister announced that his country, along with Denmark and the Netherlands, planned to send Ukraine at least 100 Leopard 1 tanks. At the time, they were described as a “robust and assertive” addition to Ukraine’s forces.
State media in Denmark reported that 12 of the 20 Leopard 1 tanks donated by the country have technical issues, with two sitting in Poland with “serious” issues, citing comments from Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen.
Earlier this week, a German newspaper reported that another 10 Leopard tanks donated to Ukraine had significant enough issues that Ukraine refused their delivery.
The issues with the tank deliveries raise the possibility that the German-Denmark-Netherlands group may be unable to meet its proposed timeline of delivery.
Even if the Leopard 1 tanks arrived in Ukraine on time and in acceptable shape, it is questionable how much support they could give the Ukraine Armed Forces. During the early stages of Ukraine’s failed counteroffensive, it heavily utilized the Leopard 1 and its more advanced successor, the Leopard 2.
The Leopard 2 has more armor, a larger cannon with more range, a more powerful engine, and more advanced control systems than any of the Leopard 1 variants, including the 1A5. Despite extensive use of both Leopard 1 and 2s, the counteroffensive failed to make any significant gains and open-sourced observers confirmed the destruction of dozens of Leopard tanks, most recently in the Kupyansk direction.