Tanking support for the Armed Forces

OTTAWA—On Jan. 26, Defence Minister Anita Anand made the announcement that Canada would be donating four Leopard 2 tanks to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This announcement came on the heels of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz relenting to mounting international pressure and agreeing to provide Ukraine with 14 Leopard 2 tanks. Just six days earlier at a NATO summit in Ramstein, Germany, Scholz had defiantly obstructed not only the donation of Germany's tanks, but also any other NATO country from providing their own German-built Leopard 2s. This reversal from Scholz came about after the United Kingdom and United States announced that they would be sending their own Challenger and Abrams main battle tanks, respectively, to Ukraine. For the past two months, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been begging for donations of western tanks to break the current stalemate in eastern Ukraine. At the top of Zelenskyy's wish list has been the Leopard 2 tanks. International media reports began a steady drum beat of stories, which built an aura of the Leopard 2 being some sort of game-changing battlefield wonder weapon. For their part, the Russians warned that any country providing such heavy weaponry to Ukraine would be escalating the conflict and would therefore face reprisals. Poland and Finland were the first two NATO countries that offered to provide Leopard 2s to Ukraine, but Germany realized that since they ultimately had control over any second export licence for those tanks, Russia could single them out for any retribution. The U.K. and U.S. cleared the way by making donations of their tanks. Ergo, if Russia does take punitive measures, Germany will not be alone. For the record, Zelenskyy and his generals were asking for 300 Leopard 2 tanks. Contrary to what the media would have you believe, the Leopard 2 is a capable heavy tank, but not a modern super weapon. The model Canada is sending to Ukraine is the Leopard 2A4, which first entered service in the mid-1980s. As such, they will be older than the Ukrainian tankers manning them. Admittedly, they are better than the Russian T-72 and T-80 Soviet-era tanks of the same vintage. However, as we have seen in the combat to date in Ukraine, the advent of drones and sophisticated anti-tank rockets have made the modern battlefield extremely dangerous for tanks. Added to this is the fact that instead of a homogeneous force of 300 Leopard 2s, what has been pledged to date are: 14 Challenger tanks from the U.K., 31 Abrams from the U.S., 14 Leopard 2s from Germany, and the additional four from Canada. Presumably Poland, Finland, and a few other NATO members will add Leopard 2s to that list, but we are looking at around 100 tanks in total. Worse yet is the reality that this donation includes three distinctly different types of tanks. This amounts to a stupidly wide spectrum of equipment for a Ukrainian army that is already trying to logistically support a huge range of weapon systems and vehicles already donated to them during this war. The Challenger tank, for instance, was only ever used by the U.K., although a number were exported to Oman. The ammunition calibre for the main gun on the Challenger is not NATO standard. There is a good reason why armies strive to minimize the diversity of their combat equipment. In addition to the headache of resupply, maintenance, obtaining spare parts, etc., there is also the challenge of training crews on a variety of platforms. For those expecting these new tanks to be rushed into battle against the Russians, think again. According to U.S. doctrine, it takes 22 weeks to fully train an efficient tank crew. Granted, the Ukraine tankers have had 11 months of actual combat experience in their Soviet-era tanks. However, if they are to understand and best utilize the advantages of these western-standard tanks, they will still require weeks of intensive training. The fact the Canadian Army has 82 Leopard 2 tanks but is hard pressed to part with just four of them to give to Ukraine is indicative of how neglected our armoured forces have been since we quit the combat mission in Afghanistan in 2011. If main battle tanks still have a place on the modern battlefield, I would suggest that Minister Anand commits to more than simply replacing the four Leopard 2s that we are giving away to Ukraine. Scott Taylor is the editor and publisher of Esprit de Corps magazine. The Hill Times