The article discusses the Ukrainian military’s efforts to upgrade their Leopard 1A5 tanks, which are being supplied by a Danish-Dutch-German consortium. The upgrades include adding anti-drone cages and armor, as well as fitting them with new Belgian turrets.
According to the article, the Leopard 1A5 is able to fire from up to 10 kilometers away, giving Ukrainian forces a significant range advantage in the drone warfare environment. This allows them to protect their tanks from Russian first-person-view drones, which tend to range just a few kilometers under normal circumstances.
The article also mentions that Ukraine is getting 170 of the Leopard 1A5 tanks and plans to assign them to front-line brigades against Russian forces. Despite losses to Russian forces, the old German Leopard 1A5 is set to become Ukraine’s most numerous Western tank.
However, it is unclear how much a hundred or so turrets might cost to upgrade Ukraine’s Leopard 1A5 fleet, and whether Kyiv would be willing to spend tens of millions of dollars on new turrets when other needs are more urgent.
