According to confirmed data, it is known about 11 damaged tanks of the Leopard 2 type (“Leopard”) transferred by Germany to Ukraine. Three of them are not recoverable and cannot be used in combat. For comparison, during the same period, the RF Armed Forces lost 12 T-80 tanks of the latest modification without a chance for recovery. This was announced today, on July 28, on the air of the FREEDOM TV channel by the military-political observer of the Information Resistance group Alexander Kovalenko.
“Using exclusively verified data, that is, confirmed, according to the classification of destroyed and damaged tanks of the Leopard 2 type, there are two, four and 2A6 modifications in total 11 tanks. Of these, three cannot be recovered for use in combat. Eight have damage that, in the event of an evacuation, it will be possible to restore, and they will again perform their functions. That is, the total number is 11 units, of which 3 are non-recoverable losses, 8 are returnable. And here, even if you just compare it with one of the categories of Russian tanks, then over the same period, the complete destruction of 12 Russian T-80BVMs was verified. This is one of the latest modifications of these Soviet tanks,” he said.
According to the observer, the Russians use a variety of tricks, illusions in order to present, as if on the battlefield, the colossal losses of the Leopard 2.
“They shoot the same damaged or destroyed tanks from different angles, attack the same damaged tank several times, for example, with the Lancet loitering ammunition, while the Lancet itself does not cause critical damage to the tank. In this, by the way, Leopard 2 demonstrated that the Lancet, although it opens it, cannot completely destroy it. For example, with the T-72 and T-80 tanks, the Lancet-3 modification, which has a warhead of 3 kg and a cumulative effect, a cumulative jet, they can, in principle, completely destroy the T-72, T-80. In turn, with the Leopard 2, not a single case was recorded when the tank was precisely destroyed. There are damages, especially if they fall into the most weakened zone of the tank, in the bustle. However, even after that, the tank can be completely restored, there are no critical damages.
The observer also touched upon the topic of the direct use of Leopards by the Ukrainian army in such a dangerous zone as the security zone, where there is a very dense saturation of high-explosive minefields.
“To the question of many critics why the Leopards were used in a zone where there are so many mines and so many land mines, and so on and so forth, in addition to the answer that this tank guarantees the maximum preservation of the life of the crew after a mine explosion, there is another very important point. Back in the 80s, after a series of tests and trials, it was confirmed that the Leopard 2А4 track chain (at that time it was the basic initial modification of the tank) was considered the most resistant to undermining Soviet TM-62 mines. Its strength was more than 1.25 times higher than the strength of the T-80 track chain. Compared to the T-72 tanks, they were very similar, but due to the large mass and height of the Leopard 2 track profile, it even surpassed the T-72,” he says.
According to the observer, there were even such cases from June to July during the current offensive, when the Leopard 2 tank ran into an anti-tank mine, an explosion occurred, but its caterpillar chain did not break.
“That is, the caterpillar chain is strong enough. But, nevertheless, nevertheless, the main part of those tanks that were destroyed and damaged, they became losses due to mine explosions. Once, of course, it can carry through, twice it can carry through, but in general, of course, mines remain a big problem for even such equipment as the Leopard 2, ”summed up Alexander Kovalenko.
Source : UATV