Arms deal with Bern
Swiss Leopard 2 tank on the way to Germany
January 30, 2024, 5:13 p.m
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Bern does not allow arms deliveries to Ukraine. After a long tug of war, Germany is now buying back some Leopard 2s from Switzerland. The tanks are intended to fill gaps among Kiev’s supporters.
Switzerland has transported the first nine of 25 Leopard 2 A4 main battle tanks to Germany. The Federal Office of Armaments (Armasuisse) handed it over to the German manufacturer Rheinmetall this morning, the Federal Department of Civil Protection, Defense and Sport (DDBS) announced in Bern. The tanks were therefore brought to Germany by train. Rheinmetall is supposed to make them operational again. A transport train with another nine tanks is planned for Wednesday, the rest should roll over the road to Germany, according to the VBS.
In February last year, Germany wanted to buy 25 of a total of 96 decommissioned Leopard 2 tanks from Switzerland. The deal was controversial. Conservative Swiss parties rejected it, citing neutrality. Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius promised that the tanks would not be passed on to Ukraine. Rather, they are intended to fill gaps in Germany or with EU or NATO partners who have supplied tanks to Ukraine from their own stocks. Under these conditions, the Swiss government agreed to the deal.
Because of its neutrality, Switzerland does not allow deliveries to warring parties, regardless of whether they are to be used for attack or defense. The same applies to ammunition once purchased in Switzerland. This led to considerable unrest because Germany and other countries wanted to supply Swiss-made tank ammunition to Ukraine.
Experts consider the Leopard 2 to be the best battle tank in the world in its respective generation. The Bundeswehr describes it as a “predator on tracks” and has been using the main battle tank in various versions since 1979. Armed with a 120-millimeter cannon, the younger models can be used by four soldiers on board to fight targets at a distance of up to 5,000 meters.
Over the years, the tracked vehicles of the arms company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann received increasingly stronger armor. The current A7V series, which weighs around 64 tons, reaches a top speed of 63 kilometers per hour with 1,500 hp diesel engines. Germany delivered 18 A6 series tanks to Ukraine last year.