Germany Rolls Out Improved Leopard 2 Variant After Heavy Losses in Ukraine

The ground forces equipment manufacturer Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and Nexter (KNDS) has unveiled the first Leopard 2A8 main battle tank, which was built to meet orders for the Norwegian Arm. The rollout was attended by German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and Norwegian State Secretary Marte Gerhardsen, with the firm announcing that it was“an important milestone for the modern equipment of the Bundeswehr and for European cooperation in the field of land systems.” A new mobile howitzer system, the PzH 2000, was also rolled out at the ceremony, with both it and the new tank expected to enter service in 2028. The Leopard 2 program has been a leading beneficiary of the surge in defence spending seen across the European continent from 2022 in response to escalated tensions with Russia.

Compared to the Leopard 2A6, which although fielded in relatively small numbers across the world, is heavily relied on by Germany and other major users, the Leopard 2A8 boasts further improvements including the integration of the Israeli Trophy active protection system, a new 20 kW auxiliary power unit, and a new combat management and information system, among other conservative upgrades. The vehicle is seen to have a competitive advantage in Europe due to the interoperability it will provide with armies across the continent. In July 2025 it was reported that the German Defence Ministry was considering plans to procure several hundred Leopard 2A8s, following the depletion of its stockpiles of Leopard 2A6 tanks due to donations to the Ukrainian Army.

The German Army on May 22 inaugurated the 45th Armoured Brigade stationed in Vilnius, Lithuania, which is intended to provide an elite forward deployed mechanised warfare capability on the territory of the former Soviet Union. Located just 150 kilometres from the Belarusian capital Minsk, and less than 800 kilometres from Moscow, the brigade is intended to deploy 108 Leopard 2A8 tanks, which were ordered in July 2024 under a 2.93 billion euro ($3.14 billion) contract, and will be delivered between 2027 and 2030. The Czech Republic, Italy and the Netherlands have also placed orders for the tanks. A leading competitor to the Leopard 2 on European markets is the South Korean K2, with Poland and Turkey each planning to field 1000 of them rather than placing further orders for Leopard 2s. The Korean tanks do not provide interoperability with other European fleets, and South Korea lacks comparable political and economic leverage to market its vehicles, but they are significantly more modern with higher mobility and lower crew requirements and maintenance needs.

The Leopard 2’s viability for modern warfare has been widely questioned, as has those of other very large Western main battle tanks with similar design philosophies such as the American M1A2 Abrams and British Challenger 2, as their emphasis on heavy armour protect is considered far from optimal in an area of drone warfare. The Chinese Type 100 unveiled in September 2025 is considered the leader in adapting to new realities of armoured warfare, with the T-14 and M1E3 under development in Russia and the U.S. respectively both being adaptations of much older designs in a similar direction. The Leopard 2A6 has taken very high losses in combat in the Ukrainian theatre against Russian forces, while several of the tanks have been captured and analysed in detail at Russian facilities.