Czechia Seeking To Obtain 76 Leopard 2A8 MBTs
The pool of customers for the Leopard 2 tanks in Europe is steadily growing. Besides Hungary and Italy, which will open a production line for its order of over 100 Leopard 2A8-IT, Czechia is reported to be seeking to field more than 100 Leopard 2 vehicles including specialized platforms. The Czechs have recently delivered dozens of their T-72Ms to Ukraine, stripping their armed forces of a significant amount of armored vehicles. The modernization of the Czech armed forces is one of the aims of the current government.
In recent months, Czechia received the first of 14 Leopard 2A4 tanks for training and platform familiarization. An additional order was placed for the delivery of the Leopard 2A6 variant to fill the gap and improve the current combat capacities of the Czech Armed Forces in a short term. Despite being small in numbers the Czech Army is heavily professionalized and modern, relying on firepower and technical advantage. According to Defense 24 the Czech Commission of Defense of The Chamber of Deputies has confirmed the willingness to procure the Leopard 2A8 MBTs alongside bridgelayers and Bergepanzer 3 Recovery Vehicles. Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Karel Řehka, told the committee that Czechia’s heavy brigade must have at least four battalions, one of which must be a tank Battalion.
Czechia has been an industrial powerhouse of Central Europe with modern factories and a huge arms industry, allowing for the manufacture of now slightly outdated T-72M4 MBTs. Rheinmetall may seek an opportunity to propose to the Czechs an additional offset agreement for the production of some Leopard 2 compartments and parts to satisfy the needs of contemporary Leopard MBT users.
Such an order for 100+ vehicles would satisfy all the Czech needs with the possibility of replacing all T-72M1s remaining in service as well as the possibility to create a small reserve of the Leopard 2A4 tanks for training purposes. The first deliveries of the Leopard 2A8s could take place by the end of the 2020s alongside the arrival of Italy’s first 2A8-IT tanks.