Battle tanks - Meta-Defense.fr

The Czech Republic negotiates the acquisition of 50 Leopard 2A7+ heavy tanks

Since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, the Czech Republic has been one of the countries most involved in providing military support to Ukrainian fighters. Despite a reduced armed force of only 25.000 soldiers and reservists, and a defense budget capped at €4 billion per year, Prague did not hesitate to transfer part of its stock of T-72M1 tanks to Kyiv. reserves, but also artillery, anti-aircraft defense and ammunition systems, and intends to continue this effort until the end of the conflict. The country obtained, in this perspective, the support of Berlin, which announced the transfer of…

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Has France lost its audacity in Defense innovation?

May 12thMay 19th

At the start of the week, the French Defense Innovation Agency launched two calls for projects to design vagrant ammunition models. These weapons, sometimes improperly called suicide drones, mark the news in the Ukrainian conflict, with the arrival of the Switchblade 300 and 600 models and the mysterious Phoenix Ghost specially designed by the US defense industry at the request of the Ukrainians. However, the effectiveness of vagrant ammunition did not emerge during this conflict, nor even during the Nagorno Karabakh war in 2020 during which the Israeli-made Harops and Orbiters saturated the Armenian defenses. Indeed, this type of ammunition exists…

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Greece ready to spend €2 billion to modernize its Leopard 1 and 2 heavy tanks

May 11thMay 11th

If the United States and some of the Europeans tend to soften their positions vis-à-vis Turkey, the Greek authorities and military, for their part, are far from sharing this hope about a possible change of method. and objectives on the part of the Turkish President, R. T Erdogan, and a normalization of relations with Ankara. While Greece can rely on solid growth of 8,1% in 2021 and more than 7% expected in 2022, and its public finances are again in the green, Athens can now focus on modernizing its its ground forces, after devoting…

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Colombia becomes a "major ally" of the United States

May 11thMay 11th

The war in Ukraine has generated a certain radicalization at the level of international relations, in Europe of course, but also on the whole planet. In this context, President Maduro's Venezuela did not fail to play an important card, by displaying unfailing support for Moscow from the outset of the conflict, and by systematically voting against the texts targeting the Russian Federation at the United Nations. . For Caracas, it is a question of securing the good graces of the Kremlin, whose military support and in terms of arms exports are essential to maintaining the regime in place. If the rapprochement with Moscow and Beijing dates from…

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Russian forces lost first T-90M heavy tank in Ukraine

May 5th

With the exception of the T-14 Armata which is currently not in operational staffing in the Russian armies, the T-90M Proryv-3 (Breakthrough-3) is unquestionably the most modern tank, the best armed and the best protected in service with Russian units. However, the tank presented as a T-90 incorporating many elements from the T-14 Armata, in particular the 125 mm 2А82-1М gun and the Kalina fire control system, was only engaged in Ukraine at the end of April 2022. Although entering service in 2019, the T-90M is indeed a rare commodity within the Russian armed forces,…

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Lessons from the War in Ukraine: The Vulnerability of Frontline Armor

April 25thApril 25th

According to the Oryx site, which refers to the losses documented by both sides since the beginning of the conflict, the Russian armies have so far lost more than 550 heavy tanks, of which more than half were destroyed by anti-tank missiles, artillery strikes or by enemy tanks. The situation is essentially the same for armored combat vehicles (350 including 150 destroyed) and infantry combat vehicles (600 including 350 destroyed), which represents half of all front line armored vehicles deployed by the Russia around Ukraine before the fighting started. Fact,…

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Germany, Poland, Slovakia: European tanks soon in Ukraine?

April 12thApril 12th

How far we have come since the day after the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, a German diplomat reportedly replied to his Ukrainian counterpart that there was no sense in sending military equipment to the Ukrainian armies, since the latter would be swept away in a few days. In fact, for the past few days, declarations have multiplied in Europe, and more generally in the whole of the Western camp, in favor of much more sustained support given to Ukraine in terms of defense equipment, including the heavy equipment requested for several weeks by Kyiv to stand up to the waves of assault launched by Moscow. Already, last week, Prague had confirmed…

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MGCS: Italy, Poland, Norway and Great Britain could join the program from 2023

April 11thApril 11th

Resulting from a preliminary study launched jointly by France and Germany in 2012, the Main Ground Combat System program, or MGCS, was officially launched in 2017 by Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel to replace in 2035 the French Leclerc tanks and the German Leopard 2s, alongside 3 other emblematic programs of Franco-German cooperation in the defense industry, the Future Air Combat System or SCAF to replace the Rafale and Typhoon in 2040, the Common Indect Fire System or CIFS to replacing self-propelled guns and multiple rocket launchers in 2035, and the Maritime Airborne Warfare System or MAWS to…

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Westerners begin to transfer heavy military equipment to Ukraine

April 6thApril 6th

Whether it's Moscow's intransigence, the excesses of Russian propaganda, the Bucha massacre, or a subtle mixture of the three tinged with a diminished fear of the military potential of the Russian armies , the fact is that, for the past few days, the lines seem to have been moving in Europe, and more generally in the West, regarding the military support provided to Kyiv to deal with Russian aggression, and in particular to resist the next massive attack in the Donbass, as announced. Indeed, the Czech Republic has just announced the upcoming delivery of several dozen T-72M1 tanks and BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles to the armies…

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Should European military support for Ukraine be increased?

March 30, 2022March 30, 2022

Very few, even among the best informed, had imagined that after 5 weeks of combat, the Russian Special Military Operation would be so contained by the Ukrainian defenders, and that the Russian armies would have suffered material and human losses as well. important. However, today, despite its extraordinary firepower and air force, it is the Russian army that goes into a defensive position on many fronts, and even retreats in the face of certain Ukrainian counter-attacks, especially around Kyiv. However, this perception given both by the Western media and by the very efficient Ukrainian war communication, does not allow…

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