Leopard 1A5 tanks boost Ukrainian forces with superior firepower

The history of Leopard 1 tanks dates back to the 1960s. The A5 variants, which were introduced in the 1990s, introduced several significant improvements over the older versions. For example, they feature the EMES 18 fire control system, which is based on the EMES 15 system from the Leopard 2A4 tanks. Because of this, the Leopard 1A5 offers much more effective firing capabilities compared to tanks from the T-62 or T-72 families. Ukrainian soldiers also highlight this.

"Our soldiers describe the Leopard as faster and more accurate compared to the T-64 and T-72 tanks," said Oleksandr Pavlyuk, commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, as quoted by Defence Romania.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence published a video of Ukrainian crews training on Leopard 1A5 tanks on social media. Kyiv has already received dozens of these types of machines as part of Western support, and more are expected in the coming months. Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands are the main suppliers of Leopard 1A5 tanks to the front.

As Łukasz Michalik, a journalist from Wirtualna Polska, wrote, the Leopard 1A5 tanks provided to Ukraine have been upgraded to perform better in encounters with Russians. They have been fitted with Kontakt-1 reactive armour blocks, solving one of the tanks' biggest drawbacks: the weak armour by today's standards. However, this concept does not always work, and even such an upgraded Leopard 1A5 will not match the armour durability of tanks developed in later years.

On the other hand, it is a more durable tank than many Soviet-era vehicles of this type and additionally has relatively significant offensive capabilities, making it a considerable aid to the Ukrainian army. The main gun of the Leopard 1A5 is a 105 mm rifled cannon. Developed in Germany, the tank can reach speeds of about 64 km/h on hard surfaces and about 40 km/h off-road.