“In a Ukrainian Leopard through a Lithuanian forest,” Defence Minister Arvydas Anušauskas wrote in the caption of a video he posted on Facebook on Friday after he was given a ten-minute tank ride over rough terrain in one of Lithuanian military training areas.
Lithuania is becoming a repair hub for German-made Leopard tanks damaged in combat in Ukraine, which is fighting back against Russia’s military aggression.
“What can I say... A powerful, powerful tank,” Anušauskas told journalists at the Gaižiūnai training area in the central district of Jonava after the ride.
The minister was shown two repaired Leopard tanks slated to be transported back to Ukraine in January.
The tanks were repaired by Lithuania Defence Services (LDS), a joint venture set up in Lithuania last year by Germany’s Rheinmetall and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, Europe’s largest military equipment manufacturers.
Among few in Europe
Tank repair operations in Lithuania started in October and, under the current contract, will continue until the end of next year.
LDS will repair Leopard 2 A6 and Leopard 2 A5 modifications damaged on the battlefield.
“For these variants, this is the only hub,” LDS CEO Sebastian Dietz told reporters.
Other Leopard modifications are repaired in Poland.
Neither the Defence Ministry nor LSD would disclose the total number of Leopards brought to Lithuania for repairs.
“We will repair as many [tanks] as necessary and as many as will be delivered,” said LSD COO Aivaras Kašuba. “I cannot comment on how many; just like on the battlefield, we cannot plan how many vehicles will be damaged.”
Dietz said that all tanks brought to Lithuania had sustained damages in combat.
“We have received tanks with all kinds of damages from direct hits, mines, drone attacks, also water damage,” he said.
On Friday, journalists were shown the post-repair testing of the tanks, during which Anušauskas had the opportunity to ride in a Leopard for the first time.
Neither LDS facilities in Jonava District nor the damaged tanks currently under repair were shown, citing confidentiality and security reasons.
Cold War scenario
Around ten people, both Lithuanians and Germans, are involved in the tank repair operations.
According to Dietz, repairs are commissioned by Rheinmetall and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and carried out based on an agreement between the German Defence Ministry, which sent the tanks to Kyiv, and the Ukrainian Defence Ministry.
Kašuba said that the main reason why the tanks are repaired in Lithuania is that the German companies that own LDS are also the Leopard manufacturers.
The Leopard 2 tank was developed during the Cold War with a view to potential clashes with Soviet weaponry.
This scenario has come true, albeit probably not as envisaged by the politicians and generals of that time.
Almost 25 years after the Leopard 2 was presented to the West German army, the tanks were supplied to Ukraine, which has been resisting the invasion of Russia, which is using Soviet weapons.
This is what interests the Leopard 2 manufacturers, according to the company repairing the tanks in Lithuania.
“We are developing and collecting unique information and experience while repairing these tanks,” said Kašuba.
“I can say that this is very important for the manufacturer, both technologically and tactically,” he added.
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