Belgian Tanks Sold to OIP Land Systems and Potential Transfer to Ukraine

These tanks were previously in the arsenal of the Belgian army, however, in 2014 they were sold to the company “OIP Land Systems” for 15,000 euros per piece.

The sale of tanks can be explained by Belgium’s decision to replace all heavy armored vehicles with lighter ones and the fact that Belgium did not have the appropriate infrastructure for long-term storage of these tanks at the time.

At the beginning of this year, Belgium wanted to buy back these tanks from “OIP Land Systems” in order to transfer them to Ukraine, however, the company demanded a disproportionately high fee for each tank.

“OIP Land Systems” wanted to receive 500,000 euros for one tank, claiming that a lot of money had been invested in modernizing the tanks.

Since no agreement was reached, the tanks have since been parked at the OIP Land Systems warehouse in Tournai, Belgium.

According to AM Business, the purchased tanks will go to Ukraine via Germany and Italy.

“AM Business” was not a known buyer of tanks.

However, according to information available to the German newspaper “Handelsblatt”, the German defense industry concern “Rheinmetall” bought the tanks from “OIP Land Systems”.

The tanks from Belgium will first be delivered to the “Rheinmetall” factory in Dusseldorf, where they will be slightly improved and then sent to Ukraine.

“Leopard 1” is the first tank developed in Germany after the end of World War II. Germany also supplies Ukraine with the newest generation of tanks “Leopard 2”.

2023-08-09 08:33:00
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