Dozens of Leopard battle tanks developed by Porsche lie in warehouses
Germany bought dozens of Leopard tanks that were gathering dust in a Belgian warehouse to send them to Ukraine , according to reports.
50 Leopard 1 tanks were sold by the Belgian military as obsolete to private arms dealers in the country more than five years ago.
Most of them will be refurbished by defense giant Rheinmetall and shipped to Ukraine as part of the German military package, and others will be dismantled for parts.
Berlin has pledged to fund the restoration of 32 Leopard 1s, the forerunner of the modern Leopard 2, as part of a €700m (£603m) aid pledge to Kiev made at the NATO summit in Vilnius last month.
Freddy Versluys, chief executive of OIP Land Systems, said he sold 50 tanks to the European government, but said he couldn't name the country because of the privacy clause.
His tanks were at the center of a public controversy earlier this year after after the Belgian Ministry of Defense complained that they were charged an unreasonable price for the purchase of tanks. >Freddy Versluys sold 50 tanks to the European government. Photo: Getty/Thierry Monasse
They were sold to the firm in 2014 for what is believed to be around 2 million euros.
Ludivine Dedonder, Belgian defense minister, hoped to buy them to ship to Ukraine as part of an international effort to equip Kiev troops with Western-made tanks.
But he accused the firm of trying to make a “huge profit” from their sale.
Instead, Rheinmetall reached an agreement to buy tanks, German newspaper Handelsblatt reported.
The firm turned its attention to the Leopard 1 after Switzerland denied export licenses for the same tanks. owned by the Swiss firm Ruag.
The Leopard 1, built in the sixties, is lighter and less powerful than the newer Leopard 2 models.
Versions sold by Mr. Versluys The German defense firm last once modernized in the nineties.
It is expected that the repaired Leopards will be on the battlefield in Ukraine in four to six months.
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