Heavy duty main armored battle vehicles are consigned for urgent delivery to Ukraine from NATO nations plus Japan and Australia.
The armed forces of Japan and Australia are NATO compatible btw.
The new Traffic Light coalition government in Berlin certainly hasn't the historical delusions that Germany has had about Russia for decades, to include during the Cold War and post CW. Chancellor Scholz of the historically Russia Hugging SPD has reversed the failed dogmas of the past, supported fully by coalition partners the Greens and the Free Democrats. They call it Zeitenwende which means a "new dawn for Germany" which shines the brightness of the new post Russia Hugging Germany and its return to NATO and the West instead.
Germany Approves Transfer of 56 Infantry Fighting Vehicles From Sweden to Ukraine
In the beginning, the German government merely gave Ukraine 5,000 helmets, for this some Ukrainians sarcastically remarked that perhaps the Germans might send some pillows next time. With the emergence of the natural gas payment problem between Germany and Russia, Germany’s preparations for assistance to Ukraine are even more outrageous.
This time, a batch of “tanks” was sent.
A Swedish Pbv-501 tank from the Cold War Warsaw Pact member state of East Germany, sold to Sweden by the unified Germany after the CW ended, in 1991. The pea shooter tank is of 1966 Russian Soviet vintage. Germany has approved its sale to Ukraine by Sweden.
A spokesperson for the German Federal Ministry of Defense told CNN on Friday that Germany has approved the delivery of 56 infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine. The Germans also solemnly announced that the tanks were Pbv-501s, supposedly from the East German military during the Cold War. In fact, these so-called Pbv-501 “tanks” are the oldest BMP-1 armored vehicles of the former Soviet Union. They are from 1966 of the last century, and may be older than many officials in the German government. In Sweden, such armored vehicles are used in target shooting. The Russians could very well be amused that Germany, a country with one of the strongest modern military industries in the world, provided these “tanks” to aid the Ukrainians
By Chan Kung* German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been very busy recently to ensure the supply of natural gas. Of course, he is not busy to help Ukraine, but for the sake of Russia. In response to We…
www.eurasiareview.com
All the same however countries like the United States, Poland, Czech Republic, Japan and Australia are heeding Ukrainian President Zelensky's call. These countries are sending Pbv-501s and Bushmaster armored vehicles to Ukraine. T-72 tanks are likely to follow when talks brokered by the US are successful.
Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle on display, aka and in American military nomenclature, an Armored Troop Carrier.
Poland is expected to be the combat vehicle armaments leader in providing Ukraine with the Russian venerable T-72 Main Battle Tank which Poland has up to 400 to spare. Poland is buying $6bn of the US Abrams M1 MBT to the tune of 250 of 'em. Poland already has 249 of the German Leopard 2 MBT. That's 5 tank divisions of the German Leopard 2 and the American Abrams M1 in Poland, the two top of the line MBT of the world.
T-72M2 MBT on parade
The Abrams is the classic and thunderous heavy main battle tank while the Leopard MBT is the only tank known to fire accurately while speeding across rough terrain.