Before Ukraine obtains the first batch of main battle tanks made in the West, the Ukrainian army must solve various challenges and retrain its tank men and maintenance workers. This may be more difficult than originally thought. Not only are there great structural differences among various NATO tanks, but even the German "Leopard" - 2 tank itself has many versions, some of which even use different ammunition. According to the report on the website of Le Monde on January 27, the "Leopard" - 2 that Ukraine will obtain from Germany is not the old A4 model, but 14 A6 tanks. The German army acquired this type of tank at the beginning of this century. An important difference between it and other types is the artillery system: the previous generation of "Leopard" - 2A5 and the American "Abrams" tank used the 120mm caliber L44 smoothbore gun, while the "Leopard" - 2A6 gun barrel needs to be about 1.5 meters longer. According to the report, this means that more energy will be transferred to the shell and the muzzle speed will be faster. The new DM63 120mm shell with greater power is matched with it. This shell can only be fired with a longer L55 smoothbore gun. The speed of the DM63 sub-caliber armor-piercing projectile can reach five times the speed of sound. According to western analysis, it can even penetrate the latest generation of "remnants" explosive reaction armor in Russia, so as to deal with the latest Russian tanks, such as T-14 "Amata". But on the other hand, the Ukrainian people must also establish an independent ammunition supply chain for "Leopard" - 2A6. In addition, relevant personnel must receive operation and maintenance training. Since the "Leopard" - 2A5, the electronic device of the tank is much more complicated than the Russian T-72 tank. For example, "Leopard" - 2 can know its position through global positioning system. The most important thing is that from the A5 model, the "Leopard" - 2 tank has been equipped with the so-called "hunter killer" technology: the commander can use his periscope to scout the target independently of the gunner and hand over the target to the gunner. Just press the button, the tank gun will automatically aim at the target found by the commander. Another important difference between the "Leopard" - 2A5 and A6 and the old A4 is their own protective armor: since A5, the turret has been equipped with special wedge-shaped armor, which should also be able to resist Russia's relatively new tandem conical charge anti-tank missiles. The actual effect of this armor still needs to be tested in the Ukrainian battlefield. According to the report, if the Ukrainians, in addition to their T-72 tanks, have to establish supply support for the "Leopard" - 2A4, A5, A6, "Abrams" and "Challenger" - 2 tanks in the future, the tanks provided by the West may soon fail due to lack of maintenance capability or spare parts. (Xinhua News Agency)