Denmark will be training Ukrainian Leopard 1 crews until autumn

7 June, 2023 An instructor from Denmark prepares a Ukrainian tanker for operate with Leopard 1 tank on a simulator. June 2023. Germany.

Photo credits: Ministry of Defense of Denmark Military instructors from Denmark will be training Ukrainian Leopard 1 tank crews throughout all summer. The Ministry of Defense of Denmark noted that Ukrainians are being trained on German Leopard 1A5 tanks.

Danish instructors have been working since April and will continue throughout the summer. Ukrainians are trained in close cooperation with German soldiers and industry workers in Germany. Also, recently, Danish Major General Arpe Nielsen and Sergeant Major Henning Beck inspected instructors from Denmark who are currently training Ukrainian soldiers on these combat vehicles.

Instructions in Ukrainian during the training of Ukrainian soldiers for Leopard 1. June 2023, Germany. Photo credits: Ministry of Defense of Denmark

In May, the Danish military reported that the training of Ukrainian defenders on Leopard 1 tanks would take about a month.

Denmark was to send 80 Leopard 1 tanks to the Ukrainian military. This regarded the supply of 80 Leopard 1A5DK tanks after repairs to Ukraine, which were purchased by the German company FFG after their final withdrawal from the Danish military in 2005. The Danish and German sides have allocated EUR3 million to repair and modernize these tanks.

The German concern Krauss-Maffei Wegmann started preparing Leopard 1A5 tanks for delivery to Ukraine at the beginning of February.

The Danish military near the Leopard 1 tank, on which Ukrainian soldiers are trained. June 2023, Germany.

Photo credits: Ministry of Defense of Denmark

The Danish Leopard 1A5DK tanks are a modified version of the welded-turret Leopard 1A3 tanks that were brought up to the Leopard 1A5 level in the early 1990s. During the modernization, the tank received a modern weapons stabilizer, thermal imaging sights, and a new computerized EMES 18 fire control system. This system was developed on the basis of the modern EMES 15 fire control system borrowed from the Leopard 2 family of tanks.

Leopard 1 tanks during the training of Ukrainian soldiers. June 2023, Germany. Photo credits: Ministry of Defense of Denmark

The tank is armed with a 105-mm L7A3 gun, capable of firing all standard 105-mm shells produced by the NATO countries.

Its ammunition is unified with the Slovenian M-55S tanks approved for use in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.