Leopard 2: Germany wants to buy 96 decommissioned tanks from Switzerland

Germany intends to buy from Switzerland the Leopard 2 tanks that are stored there.

The Swiss publication Blick reported about this.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck appealed to Swiss Vice President Viola Amherd to approve the sale of 96 decommissioned Leopard 2 tanks to Rheinmetall.

The Swiss Ministry of Defense officially confirmed the receipt of such a request.

It is noted that according to the plans of the German government, the tanks that are planned to be purchased from Switzerland will not be transferred to Ukraine, but should strengthen the defense capabilities of European countries.

Germany expects that the purchased Leopard 2 will make it possible to replenish the shortage of heavy armored vehicles in the countries of the European Union and NATO, which supply tanks to Ukraine.

According to Blick, the Swiss army has already started considering a corresponding application from the German government.

However, according to a spokesman for the Swiss Ministry of Defense, the country’s army may abandon a limited number of main battle tanks. It is regarding 34 preserved tanks that are needed for its own defense purposes.

An official decision of the Swiss parliament must become a prerequisite for the implementation of such an agreement.

Switzerland cannot directly transfer weapons to Ukraine due to its neutrality, but at the beginning of February, Bloomberg reported that the country was considering the option of sending its military equipment to Ukraine’s allies, so that they could transfer similar weapons to Kyiv from their own stocks.

At the time, according to the publication, some Swiss politicians called for the Leopard 2 to be sold at a nominal price to Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic to replace the tanks their governments planned to send to Ukraine.

Currently, the Swiss armed forces have about 300 Leopard 2A4 tanks in service. Most of them are manufactured in Switzerland under license, and only 35 tanks were purchased from Germany.