© Daniel Stevenson
"History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme," the great American writer Mark Twain once wrote. One might add: "And often, unfortunately, in an alarming way." Just days before the 70th anniversary of the capitulation of Nazi Germany in World War II, debate in the German media is raging about how the German army can again wage an effective armoured tank war against Russia.
In an article headlined "Why politicians rejected uranium projectiles for the Leo", the
Die Welt national daily newspaper
calls for equipping German Leopard 2 battle tanks with uranium munitions to effectively combat Russian tanks.
The article begins by announcing, with obvious satisfaction, that the defence ministry has recently "recalled into operation 100 mothballed Leopard 2 tanks at a cost of €22 million, thereby increasing the country's arsenal of combat tanks from 225 to 325". The primary purpose of this "unusual measure" is allegedly to signal to eastern European countries that "the trend towards further reduction of Germany's conventional military capabilities (has been) reversed".
However, the author then gives full vent to his frustration over the country's military inadequacy. The Leopard 2 tanks are, he writes, indeed "still excellent weapons ... but unfortunately [they are] no longer capable of effectively combatting the modern types of Russian tanks—particularly the T90 series". The reason is "exclusively the inadequate type of ammunition used for the [tank's] first-class 120 mm smoothbore cannon", which is manufactured by the German Rheinmetall arms company.
The Bundeswehr's (German army's) DM63 ammunition, currently used in heavy armoured combat, is not powerful enough "to penetrate the newer versions of T80 and T90 tanks. This will probably be even more the case for Russia's incoming Armata tank, which will be operational from 2020."
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