Rheinmetall purchased Leopard 1 tanks for Ukraine in Belgium

9 August, 2023 Leopard 1 tanks. Photo credits: app.handelsblatt.com The German concern Rheinmetall bought 50 Leopard 1 tanks from Belgium, part of which is to be transferred to Ukraine.

The newspaper Handelsblatt reported this, citing its own sources. According to the publication, the tanks will be re-equipped, after which 30 of them will be transferred to Ukraine. The Belgian publication Business AM recently reported that the first repaired Leopard 1 tanks purchased by an unnamed state were shipped from Belgium to Ukraine via Germany and Italy.

These tanks were decommissioned a few years ago.

Leopard 1 tanks in the warehouse of OIP Land Systems. Photo credits: Reuters/Yves Herman

According to the publication, Belgium sold the tanks to OIP Systems at a price of only 15 thousand euros per unit since the Belgian military did not have hangars to accommodate the decommissioned equipment. Since then, they have been stored in a warehouse in the city of Tournai.

Belgium did not start transferring tanks to Ukraine as it is too expensive to put them into operation - OIP Land Systems asked for half a million euros per tank to bring them into working condition. It is reported that the first two Leopard 1 tanks of Frederic Versluys, Belgian owner of OIP Land Systems, have already left for modernization. The tanks were loaded at OIP Land Systems' facility in the city of Tournai.

Leopard 1 tanks in the OIP Land Systems warehouse.

Photo credits: Reuters/Yves Herman

"The tanks will first stop in Germany and Italy, where they will be overhauled and equipped with modern weapons systems.

After that, they will go to the battlefield," Frederic Versluys shared.

Moreover, Versluys noted that his company OIP Land Systems is preparing 90 armored personnel carriers ?113, the purchase of which was funded by the United Kingdom.