Poland Acquires Tanks from Germany

Reashot Xigwin · Nov 27, 2013

Nov. 25, 2013 - 03:07PM |
By JAROSLAW ADAMOWSKI |

Krauss-Maffei Wegmann builds the Leopard tank, including the 2A5 variant. (Krauss-Maffei Wegmann)

WARSAW — The Polish Defense Ministry has acquired 119 tanks from the German Army. These include 105 Leopard 2A5 tanks and 14 2A4 variants, the ministry said in a statement. The contract was signed by Polish Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak and his German counterpart, Thomas de Maizière.

“The version which we are acquiring will remain operational for many years to come without the need to be modernized,” Siemoniak said. “We want the Leopard to be the main tank operated by the Polish Army.”

“Germany wants to continue the close cooperation of the two countries’ armed forces,” de Maizière said. “Now the Leopards will enhance the collaboration of soldiers from our countries for world peace and security.”

Deliveries are scheduled from 2014 to 2015. The contract is worth €180 million (US $243 million), according to the Polish MoD. The procurement also covers related military equipment, including transportation vehicles, machine guns, training and radio location systems.

Meanwhile, the Polish military is aiming to overhaul the 128 Leopard 2A4 tanks it already operates. The tanks were produced from 1984 to 1986.

http://www.defensenews.com/article/...Germany?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|p

Buy from the Pros: Poland Adds More German Tanks
Nov 25, 2013 18:56 UTC by Defense Industry Daily staff

Polish Leopard 2A4

Germany is almost done selling off one of the world’s most impressive tank fleets, earning itself a solid market around the world in the process, and choking sales of competitive designs. In November 2013, Poland announced that it would buy a 2nd batch of Leopard 2 tanks from Germany, along with assorted other equipment. As usual, the package price was incredibly cheap: just EUR 180 million for 119 more tanks, plus range training fittings, machine guns, radios; and assorted armored tractors, cars, and trucks. Poland’s next question is what to do with the new gear…

Leopard 2A5

Poland’s original set of 128 Leopard 2A4 tanks were bought and transferred in the mid-1980s. They need a full overhaul, and modernization would be an excellent idea. The new Leopards include another 14 2A4s, plus 105 of the more advanced Leopard 2A5s. This will form the high-end core of Poland’s armored brigades, with capabilities and survivability far ahead of its T-72 and PT-91 Twardy (locally designed upgrade beyond T-72M1) tanks.

The Polish Army needs commonality within its Leopard fleet at some point. Meanwhile, Polish industry is unhappy because the new acquisitions will replace the mothballed T-72 fleet with a German design, rather than having the MON fund a new Polish design by 2016. The logical solution is to involve Polish industry in a common upgrade effort that will begin by bringing the existing fleet to a more advanced standard, then follow by upgrading the newer Leopard 2A5s to create a common Polish standard.

Rumors have Poland looking for a final configuration that’s similar to Canada’s new Leopard 2A6Ms. That would reshape and strengthen the armor structure to 2A5 levels and beyond, upgrade the sights and communications, beef up the internal climate control to handle hot environments like Afghanistan, add extra mine blast protection underneath, and provide points to fit engineering utilities like dozer blades and mine clearance rollers.

The tender for overhaul and modernization of Poland’s current tank fleet was announced in October 2013, and has a Dec 10/13 deadline.

Buy from the Pros: Poland Adds More German Tanks