MOSCOW, 14 Aug. The Belgian Leopard 1A5BE destined for Ukraine has a problem with the fire control system (FCS), warned American Forbes columnist David Ax.
Earlier, the German defense concern Rheinmetall purchased 50 Leopard 1 tanks from Belgium, 30 of which are intended for transfer Kiev.
As Ex notes, the 1A5BE modification tanks are distinguished by the Belgian-developed SABCA fire control system (FCS), while for the sake of a slightly better accuracy compared to the standard German system, Belgium went for additional costs and a «uniqueness fee».
According to the observer, the SABCA system needs special care and technical support, besides, there are «no number» of them. «There are already indications that the unusual SABCA systems on the 50 Leopard 1A5BE tanks that Rheinmetall acquired from (Belgian — ed.) OIP Land Systems are in poor condition,» he writes.
According to Ax, The fact that Berlin expects to send Ukraine only 30 tanks out of 50 has a simple explanation: 20 units are planned to be disassembled in order to receive spare parts for repairing the remaining 30. “There are strong suspicions that this very cannibalization was planned just for the sake of fire control,” he believes. author.
At the same time, problems with the SLA are «not the biggest problem» for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, he notes. «A much more serious snag is the thin steel armor. With a maximum thickness of only 70 millimeters, it cannot provide reliable protection against anything more powerful than the Russian heavy machine gun,» the observer concludes.
The Leopard 1 is a main battle tank produced in Germany in 1965-1984, until the mid-1980s, he was in service with the Bundeswehr, as well as the armies of the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Denmark, Australia and Italy.
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