Italy, Germany, Poland ..: all in Europe increase their heavy armored forces, except Great Britain and France

The lessons of the war in Ukraine are numerous, and sometimes come to severely undermine certain paradigms powerfully anchored in the Western defense staffs and ministries. Two of these lessons directly concern the fleet of tanks and heavy tracked armored vehicles, considered until a few months ago as too vulnerable, heavy and expensive for a debatable relative operational effect. It is now clear that not only are battle tanks and tracked infantry fighting vehicles indispensable for both offensive and defensive manoeuvre, including in urban theatre, but that despite this key role, they remain vulnerable, even for the most efficient and best protected among them, and that it is therefore necessary to have a certain mass not only to obtain the desired operational effect, but also to absorb attrition and continue the maneuver.

If the issue of tanks and IFVs transmitted to Ukraine has focused media attention, it has also partly masked the efforts made by many countries in Europe to modernize and expand their heavy armored fleet, while contracts for acquisition of Leopard 2, Abrams, K2 and other CV90s, have continued to be announced in recent months. Latest information to date, and beyond the pharaonic contracts announced by Warsaw which plans to acquire 1000 K2 tanks in addition to 250 M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams already ordered alongside 1400 VCI Borsuk, Romania which has announced its intention to acquire 54 American M1A2 Abrams tanks used to modernize an armored battalion, while Germany negotiates with Bern the re-acquisition of Leopard 2 under cocoons in Switzerland to strengthen the Bundeswehr, and probably compensate for the Leopard 2A6 which are sent to Ukraine by Berlin.

Yesterday it was the turn of Rome to announce its intention to acquire 125 heavy tanks which will act as a transition capability alongside 125 modernized C-1 Ariete, as well as an undetermined number of new heavy infantry fighting vehicles, to replace the Ariete and the 200 Dardo IFVs now deemed obsolete in the face of the reality demonstrated in Ukraine. The objective of the Italian authorities is to quickly equip their army with 250 heavy tanks and probably 200 to 250 modern IFVs so as to respond to the threat, before joining a new generation armored program, the Franco-German MGCS program having cited, to eventually recapitalize the heavy component of its army. However, two European countries stand out in this collective effort. Firstly, Britain, which remains entangled in a blind Ajax program to acquire 589 heavy tracked infantry fighting vehicles, and which will only have 148 Challenger 3 heavy tanks, although these will be subject to intense modernization, making them probably one of the best tanks of the moment. On the other hand, France, which despite a major planning law in preparation, will only have 200 partially modernized Leclercs, and which has not, for the time being, planned to equip itself with combat vehicles heavy tracked infantry.

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