It's not so much the kit, the Leopard 2 is a formidable MBT, I assure you after years of working/living on them it's how skilled and how much experience the crew has which makes the difference!
The idea that raw recruits in Ukraine get a few weeks being taught the basics by NATO troops on how to operate these vehicles, then go out into the battlefield and survive is laughable!
For instance in the cold war, troops that trained constantly for battle against the old Soviet union on the plains in Germany had an estimated survival time of 21 mins. Now that's with troops who had years of experience of these vehicles.
A few weeks training and no experience, not a chance!
To be fair to the argument, it was also about the sheer amount of numbers we would have encountered as well.
They are complex machines, we pretty much stayed with our vehicle for quite a length of time and would understand it's nuance's, what would break, how to fix it, a good tank crew could strip down the pack (engine) for a lift (removal) in a short space of time.
The spares backup will be another big problem in Ukraine, these things break down a lot and without a decent quick supply chain, it will also add to the woes.
It's not so much the kit, the Leopard 2 is a formidable MBT, I assure you after years of working/living on them it's how skilled and how much experience the crew has which makes the difference!
The idea that raw recruits in Ukraine get a few weeks being taught the basics by NATO troops on how to operate these vehicles, then go out into the battlefield and survive is laughable!
For instance in the cold war, troops that trained constantly for battle against the old Soviet union on the plains in Germany had an estimated survival time of 21 mins. Now that's with troops who had years of experience of these vehicles.
A few weeks training and no experience, not a chance!
All that training for 21 minutes? That's a horrifying statistic...
To be fair to the argument, it was also about the sheer amount of numbers we would have encountered as well.
They are complex machines, we pretty much stayed with our vehicle for quite a length of time and would understand it's nuance's, what would break, how to fix it, a good tank crew could strip down the pack (engine) for a lift (removal) in a short space of time.
The spares backup will be another big problem in Ukraine, these things break down a lot and without a decent quick supply chain, it will also add to the woes.