Berlin wants to purchase decommissioned Leopard 2s while donating some of its own stock to Kiev
Germany has asked Switzerland to sell decommissioned Leopard 2 main battle tanks back to their manufacturer Rheinmetall, so Berlin can replenish its stocks after donating its own tanks to Ukraine, Swiss authorities said on Friday. The German-made heavy tanks were originally acquired by Bern in the 1980s.
Lorenz Frischknecht, spokesman of the Swiss Federal Department of Defense, confirmed the request to Swiss newspaper Blick, which first reported the story on Friday. âFrom the armyâs point of view, it would be possible in principle to dispense with a limited number of battle tanks, minus those necessary for Switzerlandâs own needs,â Frischknecht said.
According to Blick, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and Economy Minister Robert Habeck formally proposed the plan to buy back 96 tanks in a letter to Viola Amherd, the top Swiss defense official, on February 23. They were said to have promised that the combat vehicles in question would not be sent to Ukraine. The newspaper noted that the Alpine country needs 34 of the decommissioned tanks for its own defense.
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