London has written off tanks it could have given to Kyiv – Times
The UK Ministry of Defense got rid of 43 Challenger 2 tanks 10 years ago, considering them economically unfeasible to repair. The Times notes that today the equipment could be transferred to Ukraine
The UK Ministry of Defense has lost 43 Challenger 2 tanks in the British Armored Forces, noting that it is not economically feasible to repair them. However, under different circumstances, this equipment could have been handed over to Kyiv, the British newspaper The Times wrote late on Sunday evening, July 30.
According to him, the disposal was carried out from 2010 to 2014 and cost more than four million pounds (4.6 million euros) of taxpayer funds.
Experts believed that the war in Europe was a relic of the past
According to defense analyst Justin Crump, the reason why the tanks were disposed of rather than put into storage was partly because it was considered an expensive procedure in the UK, and also because it was assumed that large-scale ground warfare in Europe was a relic of the past.
“Not having enough tanks ready to go to the units that were supposed to man them during the conflict was a serious problem, and I think the army is likely to change its policy in the future,” he emphasized.
Upgrade to the new Challenger 3 standard
In the mid-1990s, the British government purchased 386 Challenger 2 tanks, which were used in the war in Iraq. 40 of them had already been disposed of by 2010. As part of the 2010 Strategic Defense and Security Review, the number of vehicles was reduced by 40 percent. The UK Ministry of Defense planned to reduce the total number to 148 units, modernizing the rest to a new standard – Challenger 3.
“We are reviewing the number of Challenger 3s being built to ensure that the British Army is sufficiently equipped to meet its defense needs,” the Ministry said.
75 Challenger 2 tanks have been placed in long-term storage and, according to Tobias Ellwood, chairman of the parliamentary defense committee, are to be sent to Ukraine. Earlier, Kyiv received 14 British Challenger 2 tanks.
