Much better protected than anything the Soviets built, or anything the Russians currently have,” said Freedberg. The first M1 tank was manufactured by General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) in 1978 and was delivered to the US Army in 1980.

They are in service with the armies of Austria, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain and Turkey. The Leopard 2 was first produced in 1979 by Krauss-Maffei for the German Ministry of Defence.

“The Leopard and American Abrams are actually twins,” Sydney Freedberg, contributing editor of the digital magazine, Breaking Defence, told Al Jazeera. While Berlin was concerned about escalating the war, Washington cited logistical and maintenance challenges Ukrainians may face if they were to receive the Abrams.īoth armoured vehicles are considered state-of-the-art and are more powerful than many Soviet-era tanks fielded by both Russian and Ukrainian forces. Like Germany, the United States had been hesitant. The news comes amid reports that Washington is also poised to send dozens of M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine’s front lines. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has agreed to send its Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine.

Tiger 2 vs modern tank