In December, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz indicated that Germany would not offer Ukraine tanks for at least another 12 months. seem eager to funnel their “top-shelf” weapons into the Ukraine conflict. While Ukraine certainly wants modern Leopard II and Abrams main battle tanks, neither Germany nor the U.S. Army’s unwieldy up-gunned, eight-wheeled Strykers. That points Ukraine firmly towards Leopard I tanks, M-60 Patton Main Battle tanks, early-model Abrams tanks and even the U.S. But if it helps, NATO should tinker with their overly-broad parameters, adopting a simple definition for “defensive armored vehicles.”Ī defensive armored vehicle could simply be older, lighter Western vehicles that maintain, say, a 105mm main gun (rather than the larger caliber main guns on modern main battle tanks). Modernized T-72s are already flowing into Ukraine with little response from Russia, so drawing the line at modern tanks seems an absurd exercise in unilateral demilitarization.

Ukraine could make them work? AFP via Getty Images Redefine Older NATO Armor As DefensiveĬomplicating matters, Ukraine’s transformation to a NATO arsenal has been waylaid by timorous bureaucrats that preemptively defined tanks as “offensive” weaponry and deemed “escalatory” by Russia’s erratic leadership. The Army recently retired more than 140 persnickety Stryker MGS (Mobile Gun System) vehicles.

M60 military tanks for sale