Battle tank for Lithuania: Pistorius plans 35 new Leopard-2

Veröffentlicht:

Von:

Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius plans to procure additional battle tanks for the planned stationing of the Bundeswehr Brigade in Lithuania. According to the report of the newspaper "Die Welt", 35 other Leopard 2 fighting tanks of the most modern resource stand A8 are to be ordered from industry, since so far only 18 have been ordered to compensate for corresponding taxes to Ukraine.

The Ministry of Defense informed the Bundestag's budget committee about this intention, without further Details, since arms deals are treated confidentially. CDU budget politician Ingo Gädechens expressed that the order of the fighting tanks would be a real step, but a little late in terms of time. In addition, the financing of the project has not yet been clarified.

The delivery time for a Leopard 2 is approximately two years. The brigade in Lithuania is to be officially put into service in 2025 and will be ready for use at the latest 2027. Their main task is to secure the NATO east flank and ward off potential Russian attacks. The decision to order further battle tanks indicates the continuous strengthening of the defense capacities in Eastern Europe.