War in Ukraine
Leopard 2A6 – Video shows the German main battle tank hitting a T-72
The hit on the T-72
A Leopard 2A6 lying in wait spots two Russian T-72s and hits one of them. This is the first video showing a Leopard 2 in tank combat. In the end, however, it is only enough for half success.
A few days ago the first video was published showing a Leopard 2 fighting enemy tanks. The video was released recently but is said to have been taken at the start of the Ukrainian offensive. The Leopard 2A6 is parked on an already disturbed dirt road next to a line of trees. Not far in front of him there is a street intersection, all paths are flanked by trees. Behind the The main battle tank is a Bradley-type armored personnel carrier.
The combat distance is given as 1.5 kilometers, sometimes 2.8 kilometers. The exact geolocation was 2.26 kilometers. The biggest difficulty is probably the severely restricted line of sight due to the rows of trees. This protects the tank’s position, but also only leaves it with a small observation and firing angle.
Low viewing angle
The Leopard 2 is optimally positioned and offers the enemy a heavily armored front. He shoots and the video cuts to the target. The Russian tank is hit and disappears in a huge cloud of smoke. But he continues damaged and pushes out of the cloud. A second tank follows him. Because of the poor resolution and the smoke, the tanks cannot be identified exactly. The side exhaust systems indicate that these are T-72 or possibly T-90 tanks.
One of them was hit on the right side. The large amount of smoke is caused because tower modules were destroyed, presumably the smoke system. The shot was not carried out with an armor-piercing bullet, which would have had the best effect. Lightning and explosion upon impact indicate explosive ammunition (HE).
The wrong ammunition in the breech
Tank versus tank battles are very rare in this war. It can be assumed that the Leopard crew did not expect the appearance of the Russian main battle tanks and therefore had an explosive grenade in the breech, which is more effective against other targets. Because the angle was severely restricted by the rows of trees, there was probably no time to change the ammunition.
It would also correspond to the standard procedure. A projectile is only inserted after an armored target has been sighted, as it is ineffective against many other targets. With a modern balancing bullet, only a thin carbide arrow hits the target. The effect would be minimal against trenches or a group of infantrymen
Mission kill but no kill
The result is a half-success. The hit on the turret will have damaged, if not destroyed, the sensor system of the Russian model. This means that this tank is no longer combat or operational. There’s no talk of it being shot down, the T-72 needs to be repaired, but it still seems to be fully drivable. The PR impact of the video is therefore likely to be low. From the Russian perspective, the Leopard 2 was unable to destroy the T-72 despite its optimal position. Russian PR is likely to conceal the fact that this was due to the ammunition.
Just a few days ago, the Russians managed to take out a British Challenger 2. The Challenger 2 is considered a particularly well-protected battle tank, but it was first immobilized by artillery and then destroyed by a Kornet rocket. The use of the Leopard 2 is also nowhere near as impressive as the somewhat older attack by a single Russian T-80 on a Ukrainian combat group.
The drone threat and situation did not allow us to follow up and fire against the two T-72s again.
Source: Suchonism, Torsten Heinrich