FRANCE AND GERMANY ARMOR UP: Credit political climate change in eastern Europe. The French planned to buy modern Griffon armored personnel carriers before Trump became president. As this update points out, it’s linked to their Leclerc main battle tank modernization program.
As this second update notes, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine spurred the German Leopard 2 revival. But Germany had let is tank fleet shrink from 2,000 to 225. The revival is minimal — only 104 Leopard 2A7Vs will be reactivated. That’s a start, but in my opinion Germany needs at least 500 Leopard 2A7Vs. The update discusses the improved Leopard 2’s impressive capabilities.
Yes, a Leopard 3 may be developed, but it’s still in the discussion stage. It could be a Franco-German project.
RELATED: U.S. Apache helicopter flies over watch for a Danish Leopard 2.