Berlin is capable of supplying up to 160 Leopard 1 tanks to Kyiv, but they first need repairing by Rheinmetall and Flensburger Fahrzeugbau (FFG), Germany’s Handelsblatt reports citing sources close to the industry.
According to the newspaper, FFG has 99 Leopard 1 tanks that can be exported, while Rheinmetall has 88 more. The companies “can repair the majority of the tanks they have and make them available for export to Ukraine”, Handelsblatt was told.
The Leopard 1 tank is a predecessor of Leopard 2, Ukraine has already ordered 14 Leopard 2s from Germany. On Friday, Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that Berlin had already approved supplies of 88 Leopard 1 tanks from its own stock.
The Leopard 1 tanks can be sent to Ukraine any time after they are repaired, government sources told Sueddeutsche Zeitung. As reported, Rheinmetall and FFG could also repair the tanks. Kyiv is expected to pay more than €100 million to Rheinmetall to get them supplied.
