T-90 to Leopard: A Comparison of Ukraine’s Tank Players

Tanks here, tanks there – everyone is talking about tanks these days. The reason for this? After weeks of back and forth, the German government has now decided to send Leopard 2A6 main battle tanks to Ukraine. Shortly afterwards the Americans followed with their “M1A2 Abrams”.

It has been known from Great Britain since mid-January that they will be sending a handful of their “Challenger 2”. And the Russians? They have their tried and tested T-90. Do all these names mean nothing to you? Then this list of all the technical specifications of the four tanks will give you the answers you need.

The Leopard 2A6 main battle tank is considered a good overall package. So good that the Swiss military also bought over 100 of the previous 2A4 model. While the standard version lacks bells and whistles such as active defense, the Leopard has internal technology. Especially the precision (also in motion) is considered excellent thanks to the highly developed stabilization mechanism (see video below).

The tanks of the Abrams family have a long combat history. During Operation Desert Storm, the M1 demonstrated its superiority over the Iraqi Army’s (obsolete) T-72. A single Abrams is rumored to have destroyed seven T-72s in a row without sustaining any significant damage itself. Even today, the Abrams is still one of the top tanks in the world thanks to various technical developments.

The flagship of the Russian cavalry is the T-90A, a more modern version of the T-90. As of January 2022, there are 350 T-90A and 67 T-90M in service, which are even more modern and much better armed and protected. However, since the A model is the main force, we present the data here.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced in mid-January that the United Kingdom plans to send 14 Challenger 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine. According to the manufacturer, great importance was attached to the safety of the crew when designing the British car. The Challenger 2 uses a so-called “Chobham” armor, which is said to be twice as strong as normal rolled steel.

Of course, there are only numbers here, the main battle tanks can be compared only to a limited extent on the basis of these data. One central question is central: how well do the vehicles work on the Ukrainian terrain? Only time will tell us the answer to this question.