The Ukrainian army finally is adding reactive armor to its German-made Leopard 1A5 tanks. And just in time. The army is forming five new mechanized brigades—and they might need tanks.
A German-Dutch-Danish consortium so far has pledged to the Ukrainian war effort nearly 200 of the 40-ton, four-person tanks, which are 1980s updates of tanks from the 1960s. The Leopard 1A5 is set to be Ukraine’s most numerous Western-style tank.
It’s not a bad tank. Crews praise its excellent mobility and the fast fire-controls for its accurate 105-millimeter main gun. But the Leopard 1A5 does have one major flaw: its thin armor, which is just 70 millimeters thick at its thickest.
A contemporary Leopard 2A4, which shares the Leopard 1A5’s fire-controls but weighs tens of tons more and has a bigger gun, boasts several times as much armor as the lighter Leo 1 does—and still is vulnerable to Russian anti-tank weapons.
If it wasn’t already apparent to the Ukrainians that the Leopard 1A5 needed extra protection, the type’s first battles were a strong reminder. The first few dozen Leo 1s already are in eastern Ukraine, equipping a battalion with the 44th Mechanized Brigade.
The brigade nearly lost a Leopard 1A5 late last month, after one of the tanks apparently ran over a mine, lost mobility then came under fire from Russian artillery. The army reportedly has recovered the damaged tank in order to repair it.
Now the Ukrainians are up-armoring the Leo 1s. “The problems of reinforcing the armor are already being solved by Ukrainian engineers,” Ukrainian ICTV reported.
That apparently means adding layers of explosive reaction armor. “As far as I know, there are plans to install additional dynamic protection,” one tanker told ICTV.
ERA blocks contain layers of explosives that explode outward when struck, potentially deflecting the incoming blast. Reactive armor doesn’t work against inert penetrating rounds, but against high-explosive rounds it can roughly double a tank’s protection.
With a tight layer of ERA, a Leopard 1A5 should go from having around 70 millimeters of steel protection to the equivalent of 140 millimeters or so. That’s still less protection than a Russian T-72 has, but it’s enough at least to give Ukrainian crews more confidence as they roll onto battlefields teeming with explosive-laden drones and anti-tank missiles.
Asked how he felt about crewing a Leopard 1A5, one Ukrainian tanker responded, “Great!” But “home would be better,” he mused.
Extra protection can’t arrive soon enough. The Ukrainian army is standing up five new army mechanized brigades to reinforce Ukraine’s roughly 100 existing ground-combat brigades.
The new 150th, 151st, 152nd, 153rd and 154th Mechanized Brigades already have soldiers. What they don’t have, as far as we can tell, is heavy weaponry—including tanks.
Two hundred Leopard 1A5s would be enough to equip the 44th Brigade and the five new mech brigades with a battalion of tanks apiece. And with add-on armor, the tanks would lend the six brigades significant protected firepower.
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