Comments by "Doug Coombes" (@dougcoombes8497) on "Why the German Leopard 1 is set to become Ukraine's primary tank" video.

Shouldn't the title be the Leopard 2 is set to become Ukraine's primary tank. There are far more of those than the older Leopard 1s. Leopard 1 will be useful for Ukraine, but vulnerable to Russian APFSDS and ATGMs. Canada used Leopard 1s right up until 2017 when they were retired. We had 50 heavily modified Leopard 1s for sale but there were no takers so they were turned into range targets at Cold Lake Alberta.
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@zhufortheimpaler4041 I thought Ukraine was ordering Leopard 2A7s from Rheinmetal. There's so much going on it's hard to keep track.
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@1BigBen 3,600 Leopard 2s were built, and they are far more survivable than the Leopard 1 even upgraded. The Canadian military got by with Leopard 1s for decades until we got in a shooting war in Afghanistan. And even though we heavily upgraded our Leopard 1s we soon found we need much better protection and bought Leopard 2s. All our Leopard 1s were retired in 2017 and as of 2021 are now range targets at Cold Lake Alberta.
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@dobbylollol The main threat to the EU and NATO is Russia. If we don't send Ukraine what it needs and Russia wins there the threat becomes greater. The US also part of NATO has thousands of MBTs, Poland is rapidly building up its military with 1,000 K2 coming from South Korea. It also just received the first of what will be 250 Abrams M1A2s. Not only does every tank we send to Ukraine help to stop the worst war in Europe in 75 years started by Russia, it also means there are less Russian forces that can threaten us. 3,600 Leopard 2s were built, sending even 1/3 of that would not leave NATO defenseless and would mean the difference in Ukraine winning this war. Canada used Leopard 1s for decades until we got into heavy combat and found out how lacking they are. Even heavily upgraded they do not stand up to modern battle. We ended up buying Leopard 2s and all our Leopard 1s are now range targets at Cold Lake.
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@zhufortheimpaler4041 Ukraine had a defense budget of $6 billion before the war started, it has received billions in loans from other nations. The real issue isn't how much it will cost for Ukraine to defeat Russia. It is what will the cost be to the entire west if Russia wins and takes Ukraine. Then moves onto Moldova, Georgia then the Baltic States. We're already seeing pro-Russian political movements in counties like Slovakia. Not aiding Ukraine with what it needs now could cost us trillions of dollars eventually. 1,000 Leopard 2s is a bargain compared to that. Or a combination of those and M1 Abrams. Russia is clearly once again in an expansionist phase and only has one direction to go, west. Not only do we need to send the aid Ukraine needs now while the Russian military can still be contained. We also need to stop nickle and diming our militaries and rebuild construction capacity. We also have allies like South Korea that can fill the gaps. Poland will be buying and building under license 1,000 K2s. how about other nations look at that as well. it's time to wake up to the fact of just how dangerous Russia has become under the Putin regime and how serious it is about violent expansion.
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@1BigBen They're Russian made, it will be much harder to get equipment for them in the future. Ukraine is transitioning to western and allies weapons. I think they should do like Poland and build licensed K2s.
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@1BigBen The Twardy is still a heavily modified T-72, there are much better options. Which is why Poland is getting 250 M1A2s and 1,000 K2 Black Panthers. Ukraine can do the same.
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@zhufortheimpaler4041 Ukraine is not going to have trouble financing things, look up the Marshall plan. Especially since much of the money that Putin used to build his military came from the west in the hundreds of billions of dollars used to buy Russian oil and gas. When Ukraine wins this war and joins NATO it will get all the help it needs to rebuild its domestic sector and military because it is on the frontline with the NATO that is the greatest threat to NATO.
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