The very latest KF51 Panther tank: they didn’t sell it to their own - we’ll give it to Ukraine
There is such a popular expression: “To whom is war, and to whom is mother dear”, which vividly characterizes one of the most important details of any military conflict - business and huge money. The special military operation in Ukraine is a vivid example in this regard: it is probably impossible to count how much profit Western corporations have that are engaged in the restoration and modernization of equipment for Kyiv.
However, here the German Rheinmetall, perhaps, stood out more than the others. It's about the latest tanks KF51 Panther, the possibility of supplying which to Ukraine is being considered by the German government.
Powerful weaponthat could change the course of the conflict? Maybe. But let's talk about something else - the uncertainty in terms of the adoption of the tank by Germany is forcing the concern to look for new markets, among which Kyiv looks like the most convenient buyer.
The concept of the tank seems to be interesting
In general, of course, marketers from Rheinmetall know their business, and they know it perfectly well. An example of this is the KF51 Panther, which, without any exaggeration, has become one of the most famous tank building innovations of recent years. However, there could be no other way: beautiful advertising on social networks and a pompous presentation at the international arms exhibition Eurosatory-2022 in Paris contributed to this in many ways.
Needless to say, even if our media, full of derogatory headlines about Western weapons against the backdrop of a special military operation, approached the German product with some caution, paying more attention to its alleged characteristics, and not how bad it is. By the way, we also wrote about this tank - here here You can read more if you are interested in some details.
But advertising is advertising, and at first glance the car really came out interesting. In it, the gentlemen from Rheinmetall tried to implement what had been ripe for a long time, although more modern trends were not deprived of attention. Moreover, it is clear that they decided not just to go with the trump cards, but literally rush to the attack.
Have the 120 mm classic Western guns already exhausted their potential, and the shells have reached the limit of their power? Is it difficult to decide on a radical increase in caliber? Please, here is an “intermediate caliber” in the face of a 130-mm smoothbore gun - the power of ammunition is obvious, but without “overpayments” in the form of a completely disproportionately increased mass of the swinging part and large-scale changes in the design of the combat vehicle. An automatic loader instead of a human loader is attached.
Need increased situational awareness of the crew on the battlefield? And this is fully implemented in the Panther: tankers have at their disposal both stationary all-round cameras of the “transparent armor” type, and two small-sized quadrocopters that will show in real time what is happening around the tank and in general on the ground.
Reconnaissance drone "Panther"
The Panther's protection is also conditionally all-round: passive classic armor, dynamic protection - most likely of a non-explosive type - and the Advanced Modular Armor Protection (AMAP) active countermeasure system, which can neutralize projectiles such as guided missiles and grenades. As for the upper hemisphere, there are launchers with aerosol grenades and infrared / ultraviolet sensors to detect missiles attacking the roof, as well as a remote-controlled machine gun mount that can be used to combat drones.
Well, Rheinmetall did not forget about kamikaze drones either, fitting on the roof of the Panther a launcher for four HERO-120 loitering ammunition with a flight range of up to 40 kilometers. Any member of the crew can control them - by the way, it still consists of four people, however, this time without a loader, and the commander of a tank unit or operator of those same drones-kamikaze, located next to the driver in front of the car body.
And all this beauty is equipped with new means of communication, and is also equipped with a data exchange bus according to the NGVA (NATO Generic Vehicle Architecture) standard, through which all tank systems are controlled by a single on-board computer.
Loitering ammunition HERO-120
Why not candy? True, not everyone in Germany reacted to it with trepidation: in many ways, the candy was old, but with a new wrapper.
The Bundeswehr doesn't really need
All this hype around the appearance of a new German tank in the face of the Panther was accompanied by rather loud statements from Rheinmetall, which carried the rhetoric that is already typical of today. In general, it can be described as follows: the Russians have a lot of modern tanks, and the T-14 Armata is also on the way, so we will have nothing to answer. Well, it is logical that the Panther should become this very answer to the Russian T-14, and nothing else.
But such vivid epithets did not affect everyone.
Many military experts, including Western ones, began to lean towards the obvious conclusion that the new tank is not at all like a revolutionary solution and is simply a deep modernization of the Leopard-2 already in service, and not the latest series, since the hull and chassis were used from the "Leopard-2A4" of the 80s. It’s hard to disagree with this: they simply tried to fit into the car everything that could at least somehow interest the buyer.
Indeed, the chassis itself, such a strange combination of drones on the tank, the presence of a fourth crew member with dubious functionality, as well as the questionable mass of the vehicle of 59 tons, while maintaining, in general, similar dimensions to the Leopard-2, indicate that "Panther" is only a technology demonstrator, and even the improvement of its armor was not engaged. The full development of this concept, according to various estimates and data from the same Rheinmetall, takes a long time. So far, this is just an old tank, hung with brightly sparkling tinsel, some of which, in fact, may turn out to be absolutely useless after appropriate testing and evaluation by the users themselves.
However, there would have to deal with the base chassis itself. Even if it is replaced by that of the Leopard-2A7, at least in terms of security, its resource, considering the prospect, has already been practically exhausted. If there is enough armor today, then tomorrow it may already be insufficient.
But the interest of Rheinmetall is quite understandable: Germany, together with France, has been conducting research and producing some scientific developments for the creation of a new single European tank under the MGCS program (the main ground combat system) for several years now. This concern also participated in this project, but its proposals, to put it mildly, were ultimately simply rejected.
That machine, which was shown at the exhibition under the name KF51 Panther, became a kind of competitor to the promising single European tank. A competitor that has a near-zero chance of being in production for the needs of the Bundeswehr.
Many German media in June 2022, when the Eurosatory arms exhibition was held, frankly wrote that Rheinmetall simply wants to disrupt the European tank project and grab a piece of a very fat pie in the face of part of Germany's 100 billion investment in its defense industry.
So until it comes out. The cart with the Panther is still there, and its claims to be a single tank are still something from the realm of fantasy. At the official level, they even stopped talking about him. But this is not surprising: when the government is serious about acquiring a completely new tank and vehicles based on it, buying an old one, but “on steroids”, looks stupid.
They refuse to take their own - you can sell Ukraine
Now it is customary to talk about the general anti-Russian hysteria in the West, but it seems that it is far from being ideological for everyone. Many companies are quietly trying, and quite successfully, to make money on this. And Rheinmetall, with its really aggressive business policy, is no exception in this case.
We all remember history almost a year ago, when the former Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Melnyk, tearfully begged for tanks from the then-doubting German government. But these were only official requests, but unofficially, Rheinmetall had already managed to put out a commercial offer to the ambassador with all the associated costs for crew training, technical documentation, and so on. True, at that time it was only about "Leopards-1", the idea of \uXNUMXb\uXNUMXbtransferring which the chancellor nevertheless rejected.
Now the conversation has already gone about the "Panthers". Moreover, both the Ukrainian side and the leadership of Rheinmetall announced this. The concern hopes that the German government will still issue an export permit for the transfer of these machines to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which, if approved, could begin in a year and a half.
Here it remains only to congratulate the head of the Papperger concern - the attempt to make money turned out to be interesting. Their own in the person of the Bundeswehr look at this tank with obvious distrust, although it would be more appropriate to say that they don’t look at all yet. But you can sell this “unfinished” in the version that was at the exhibition, after all, and not only to your own, since Ukraine in this regard looks like a convenient buyer: Kiev, in general, doesn’t care what cars will be transferred. The main thing is to get bigger and better. The Europeans will still pay.
It is noteworthy that the interest of the Rheinmetall concern in selling the Panther to a warring country clearly illustrates the fact that it is not considered promising for Germany. Otherwise, there is absolutely no logic in transferring tanks to Ukraine, which are still in development and supposedly designed to replace Leopards-2.
Nevertheless, if Scholz still gives the go-ahead for the delivery of the Panther to Ukraine, Rheinmetall will be able to kill two birds with one stone.
Firstly, the car can confirm its export potential, but, of course, not as a revolutionary solution. In the future, the Panther may become more than just an independent tank that can be put on the market and look for potential buyers. It can also be suitable for the role of deep modernization of Leopards-2 in one form or another. Especially those countries where they already exist.
The second plus is inextricably linked with the first. The order for the delivery of Panthers to Ukraine will allow modernizing and fully loading Rheinmetall production lines both in Germany itself and at the group's plant under construction in Hungary. Considering that in this case the government will pay all the costs, the tank manufacturer will receive a huge financial gain - there will be practically no need to invest in production.
But all this, as they say, is written on the water with a pitchfork. The German government knows how to count money very well, and the removal from storage, restoration and modernization of Leopards-2 for Ukraine is much cheaper than if they were turned into Panthers or built from scratch.
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