NATO countries do not run out of tanks for Ukraine yet
It's no secret that the main, however, and the only suppliers of armored vehicles for Ukraine are NATO member countries. And, despite sending various light-class combat vehicles to Kyiv, there are severe restrictions specifically for tanks - they must be exclusively Soviet-made. Who knows, maybe someday this qualification will be canceled, but for now we have what we have.
However, tanks, like any other weapons, tend to run out, but is the shortage of vehicles so acute? In this article, we will talk about how many Soviet-style tanks NATO has left. Spoiler: there are a lot left, but there is nothing to exchange them with yet.
Polish supplier
Perhaps we should start with Poland. This country was a major manufacturer of T-72 tanks under the Soviet license in Europe. It is understandable - before the mass purchases of the German "Leopard-2" its armed forces were fully equipped with "seventy-two" and its own version of their modification in the face of PT-91 Twardy. The Poles in general had a rather impressive arsenal. So, in 1991, there were 757 T-72 and T-72M / M1 units in the country. Not all cars have survived to this day, but most of them.
Before the start of a special military operation in Ukraine, according to The Military Balance 2022, Poland, in addition to almost 250 Leopards-2 of various modifications, had 232 RT-91s, as well as 318 T-72M / M1 and T-72M1R tanks of various degrees staffing and resource development.
The first to help Ukraine were the old men. Initially, more than 240 T-72M/M1 modifications were mentioned. Although such publications as Izvestia and Rossiyskaya Gazeta underestimated the number - 232 units. However, this discrepancy in numbers does not play any significant role. The Poles transferred them to Kyiv in full, which, in principle, was enough to fully staff four tank battalions.
PT-91 Twardy. Source: wikipedia.org
Then they started talking about the transfer and PT-91 Twardy. In addition to the Leopards, these tanks are among the most combat-ready in the Polish army in terms of quality. To some extent, for the Poles, this is an analogue of our T-72B3 - not the worst workhorse, present in sufficient numbers in the troops. Therefore, no one planned to give them away for free.
Warsaw, in its radical plans, was ready to give up all 232 PT-91s in exchange for foreign tanks - the American M1A2 Abrams and the German Leopards-2A7. However, in the end, the Germans refused, and the Americans are in no hurry to quickly fill the Polish mechanized formations with their vehicles, therefore, according to various sources, only a few dozen RT-91s were transferred to Ukraine - no more than a battalion set.
One way or another, Poland has become the largest supplier of tanks to Ukraine, but today its reserves have been exhausted. In fact, the Polish Ministry of Defense will not dare to halve its tank fleet. Nevertheless, they definitely have a stash of two hundred and a few tanks, but they most likely will not receive a train ticket to the Ukrainian neighbor in the foreseeable future. In this case, it just cannot be said that the Soviet-style cars have run out - they simply cannot be replaced quickly.
Czech Republic
Czechoslovakia (the current Czech Republic and Slovakia, respectively) also produced tanks under the Soviet license, and not in such small quantities. During the years of the Warsaw Pact, this country, together with Poland, managed to send about 1 T-700 tanks to the countries of the Near and Middle East, and about a thousand more units to the European consumer represented by the NNA of the GDR, Hungary and Bulgaria. As for domestic consumption, in 72 the army of Czechoslovakia had 1991 “seventy-twos” in service.
In 1993, the country fell apart, the arsenal was divided, but not all of it has been preserved to this day.
So, according to The Military Balance 2022, before the start of a special military operation in Ukraine, the Czech Republic had thirty modern (for the Czech tank fleet) T-72M4 CZ tanks and about 90 T-72M1 tanks in storage with the aim of subsequent bringing up to the M4 level. However, the actual number of cars is likely to be much larger than the list.
Previously, information had already appeared from the Czech newspaper Mladá fronta DNES that batches with a total of up to 40 tanks were sent to Ukraine, but it was problematic to find out the ratio of units delivered and those still in storage with the Czech Republic. Now the situation has become somewhat clearer.
Source: svs-gru.ru
Not so long ago, there was information that the United States and the Netherlands would finance the supply of 90 T-72 tanks to Ukraine - each side would pay for 45 modernized vehicles. They will be taken, as it becomes clear, from storage bases in the Czech Republic. Thus, the supply of Czech "seventy-twos" will be almost completely used up. The stock of exactly those tanks that are in, so to speak, alive and more or less complete condition.
How many Czech tanks "lying around in the backyard", that is, completely understaffed and not listed in official papers, is not known for certain, so you should not take them into account. Restoring them, if any, is too expensive. Take the ones that are on the go.
Refuseniks: Bulgaria and Slovakia
Now you can dilute the topic with "refuseniks" from among the NATO countries. And first of all, we can talk about Bulgaria.
This country did not produce tanks, but before the collapse of the Soviet Union, it managed to purchase 334 units of T-72 vehicles from Poland and Czechoslovakia. However, at the beginning of 2022, the Bulgarians had only 90 tanks in service, without taking into account a certain amount in storage.
And here it would be quite logical to assume that Bulgaria, being in NATO, will try to “shove” this equipment into Ukraine in exchange for some bonuses. Even more than once there were reports that the Bulgarians sent a certain number of cars to Kyiv through the Czech Republic. Moreover, photographs of a T-72M1 of Bulgarian origin captured from the Armed Forces of Ukraine were published in Telegram channels.
Nevertheless, according to Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov, Bulgaria is going to continue to exploit the "seventy-two", so no one plans to undermine the country's combat capability by mass transfer of tanks to Ukraine. Tanks in the amount of 44 units will be upgraded with the help of the Israeli company Elbit Systems and will remain in service until at least 2030. But there is no hope in this case - the Pentagon can press down, and tanks will roll on trains across the Polish-Ukrainian border.
Source: yakutsk-news.net
As for Slovakia, a slightly different situation has developed here, which a number of media outlets interpreted as a NATO arms crisis, which escalated after the start of deliveries to Ukraine.
The fact is that Slovakia, as they say, was open to cooperation and was ready to transfer its entire “running” tank fleet in the amount of 30 T-72M units to Ukraine. However, in return, the government of the country requested from Germany the same number of Leopards-2 - not to expose, after all, all fronts. But all that the Germans could offer was 15 tanks, that is, one for two Slovak ones.
This arrangement did not suit the Slovak government. The newspaper Hlavne Spravy (Slovakia) even cited the words of one of the military, who directly said that by giving away a battalion set of tanks, we would receive only half in return, which is clearly unacceptable. However, the German magazine Business Insider managed to spread rumors that the Slovaks nevertheless obeyed and agreed to such unfavorable conditions. Even the Slovak Minister of Defense Jaroslav Nagy reproached the German publication for lying, calling this approach a great professional failure.
The exchange, which was unequal from the point of view of the Slovaks, did not take place. But the hint that the tanks could still go to Ukraine under mutually beneficial conditions was made. It's not worth discounting them.
Slovenia
Slovenia is a young, small and not very rich country. However, she also managed to make a mark in the supply of military equipment to Ukraine. And here it is noteworthy that the Slovenes sent not the traditional "seventy-two", but modernized T-55s in the amount of 28 units, having the index M-55S.
Slovenian M-55S. Source: topwar.ru
Slovenia also has the M-84 (the Yugoslav version of the T-72), which, like the T-55, it received, let's say, almost militarily during the Ten-Day War of 1991 from the Yugoslav army, sent to pacify the rebellious republic. Then the Slovenes managed to grab equipment for almost two battalions. These trophies became the basis of the armored forces of the newly minted country.
If we once again turn to The Military Balance 2022, this year Slovenia has 14 M-84 tanks on the move in the active army and more than 32 units of this type in storage. The arsenal is not very gigantic, but quite decent by local standards.
Tank M-84. Source: wikipedia.org
Initially, it was the M-84 in the amount of several dozen that were considered as candidates for shipment to Ukraine. In return, Slovenia asked for the Marder infantry fighting vehicle and the Fuchs armored personnel carrier from Germany. But the deal didn't go through. And here opinions differ: some experts say that the technical condition of the Slovenian tanks turned out to be too depressing, while others say that the Germans protested, they say, we don’t have enough equipment to please everyone.
As a result, there was no exchange. But the M-55S went to Ukraine, for which Germany will pay a "bribe" in the form of 35 trucks and 5 tankers. So from the Slovenian side, 30-40 tanks, if, as they say, presses, NATO will be able to get it.
Other NATO countries
Now let's take a quick look at other NATO countries, which did not particularly flicker in the supply of heavy weapons in the form of tanks to Ukraine. There won’t be much comments here - we’ll see the number of cars, and that’s all.
Here, first of all, Hungary should be noted, but not in terms of a potential shipment of equipment to Kyiv, but simply because their prime minister is still resisting the general anti-Russian policy.
This country has not very many tanks in service (that is, directly actively used) - only 48 pieces. Of these, 4 "Leopard" modifications 2A4HU and 44 T-72M1. Whether or not these "seventy-twos" will be handed over to Ukraine is too early to guess, but we can write them down in a certain "reserve" of the enemy.
Romanians, as members of NATO, are in fact the "kings" of the T-55. According to The Military Balance 2022, they have more than 300 units of these vehicles in various modifications, of which 103 are TR-85s produced in Romania (the Romanian version of T-55) and 54 units of TR-85M1, which are deeply modernized tanks with enhanced protection and improved fire control system. So far, there has been no talk of transferring them to Ukraine.
Romanian TR-85M1. Source: wikipedia.org
It is worth mentioning again the countries formed on the ruins of Yugoslavia.
Croatia, according to The Military Balance 2022, has 75 M-84 tanks in use (the Yugoslav version of the T-72, as mentioned earlier). There is also a possibility that these tanks will appear in the special operation zone.
Another 31 T-72 type tanks were in service with North Macedonia. They were supplied by modern Russia as part of military assistance. This help, as it turned out, has already turned against us - the Macedonians managed to deliver some of the cars to Ukraine. Perhaps we are talking about a batch of no more than 10 units, but we have, as they say, what we have.
Conclusions
Of course, there is a crisis in the issue of armored vehicles of NATO countries, and it is getting worse, since each supplier, be it Poland or Slovakia, requires an equivalent, in their opinion, exchange - we gave the equipment, and you, please, send us something more modern. And, for example, the German military-industrial complex has already begun to burst at the seams with a decent ringing. So no one will deliver the hundreds of tanks desired by Ukraine in one fell swoop - the question is solely on payment and hung up.
Nevertheless, all NATO reserves for Soviet tanks have not yet been exhausted. Yes, there are disagreements and contradictions, but here, as they say, if the United States presses ... At least 400 tanks of the T-72 type and a hundred (or even more) T-55 Europeans will be able to issue "on the mountain", which will exceed the amount of equipment of this class, already transferred to Kyiv for the entire time of the special operation. They will give it back not in a day, and not even in a month or two, but if they wish (pressure), they will be able to saturate 7-8 tank battalions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and this must be taken into account.
Information sources:
The Military Balance 2022
Pentagon will pay to upgrade dozens of Soviet-era tanks for Ukraine
Slovensko pošle Ukrajine 30 tanks, písali Nemci. Naď to poprel. Chce darovať aj Migy
Slovenian M84 tanks for the Armed Forces of Ukraine could not be exchanged for German armored vehicles
Russian Armed Forces in Donbass received Bulgarian-made T-72M1 tank as a trophy
T-72M / M1 tanks were handed over to Ukraine: what the armor of these old men consists of and what it is capable of
North Macedonia handed over T-72 tanks to Ukraine
Information