MADRID, 24 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Spain has a total of 347 ‘Leopard’ battle tanks, including the fifty that have been stored in Zaragoza for more than a decade and whose state, according to Defense Minister Margarita Robles, is “unfortunate”.
The ‘Leopard’ arrived in the Armed Forces for the first time in 1995, when a total of 108 units were rented to Germany for use in Spanish bases. It was the ‘Leopard 2A4’ version and the 108 vehicles were definitively purchased from Germany in 2005 for a total of 16.2 million euros.
After years of use, half of these combat tanks, more than fifty, were stored in a warehouse in Zaragoza starting in 2012. Specifically, they were housed in the Casetas Logistics Center of the Logistics Support Group No. 41 of the Land Army.
The initial idea was their transformation into special sapper vehicles and bridge-launching vehicles, which ultimately never materialized and after a decade of storage their condition has deteriorated.
This is how Robles pointed it out when his donation to Ukraine was discussed for the first time in the summer. According to him, he said, the vehicles were in a “regrettable” state that made the transfer unfeasible to face the Russian offensive.
In addition to these tanks, Spain has another 239 vehicles of a more modern version, the ‘Leopard 2E’, already manufactured in Spain by the Santa Bárbara company at the Alcalá de Guadaira (Seville) factory.
Its manufacture was carried out with a German license and experts point out that they are much more modern in their aiming and shooting system, stabilization, electronics and benefits. These are, for example, those that have been deployed in Latvia since 2017 as part of the NATO deterrence mission.
The Government has so far avoided taking a position on the debate on sending these tanks to Ukraine and has stressed that any decision will be taken in “unity” and “coordination” with international allies.
“There is no need for a public debate or confrontations between the allies,” Robles said on Monday during a visit to the Emergency Military Unit (UME) in full debate between Poland and Germany to send the battle tanks.
The Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, also called for military support for Ukraine “in everything it needs, at all times” but at the same time not to break European unity. “Aerating supposed divisions does not help Ukraine at all, it does not make Ukraine’s task any easier,” he said without clarifying whether Spain would join the coalition proposed by Poland.
“Spain wants there to be no issues that could be divisive. But it has shown that it has supplied Ukraine with what was in our hands and what was necessary for its defense,” Albarez insisted, asking for “discretion” when talking about military material such as the Leopards..