Germany has signed agreements with Italy, Spain and Sweden to develop a successor to the Leopard 2 tank.
Source. This was reported by the German business newspaper Handelsblatt, citing unnamed sources.
The project will be led by German arms manufacturers Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) and Rheinmetall, which jointly developed the Leopard 2.
It is noted that Leopard 2 is one of the most successful projects in the post-war history of tank construction. Its main weapon is the Rheinmetall Rh-120 smoothbore gun, which is also used in American M1 Abrams tanks, Japanese Type 90 tanks, and South Korean K1A1 tanks.
The tank has been in production since 1979 and has undergone several major modernizations. The latest one, the Leopard 2A7, began to be delivered to the Bundeswehr in 2014.
In total, Germany has handed over 18 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. In addition, Berlin will provide 88 Leopard 1 tanks to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Background. It has been reported that Ukraine will receive Scimitar armored reconnaissance vehicles from the UK, according to Rheinmetall.