VAJON A MAGYAR LEOPARDOKAT FELSZERELIK AKTÍV RAKÉTAVÉDELEMMEL?

VAGY EHEZ IS KEVÉS LESZ AZ ESZÜK?

A MOST LÍZINGELT ALAP LEOPARD 2 A4-KET (T72 KORTÁRSA)A KÖZEL KELETEN SORBA KILŐTTÉK A TÖRÖKÖK ALÓL:

Resounding Defeat

To this day it is not clear what exactly happened on December 16, 2016. The only known fact is that ten eliminated Leopards and several other Turkish vehicles remained on the battlefield after the defeat. At least five of those machines were completely burnt and destroyed, with ripped off turrets or hulls torn apart by anti-tank ammunition. Two least damaged Leopards were taken off the battlefield by the Islamists as a military trophy. With time, many analyses on the course of the battle of al-Bab were prepared, basing on, for example, evaluation of photos taken on the battlefield. However, all photos and videos come from IS propaganda materials, and some of them were taken or recorded several weeks after the battle.

According to experts, at least six of the ten eliminated Leopards were successfully hit (with various results) by guided anti-tank missiles (Fagot or Konkurs), three were destroyed by IEDs or fougasses, and one was severely damaged with a SVBIED (Suicide Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device). This suggests that the attacking Turkish-Syrian group got into a well-prepared ambush organized by the Islamists. Another proof is that all Leopards eliminated by ATGMs were hit on the side or the rear, where the armor is the weakest. Therefore, it is a very reliable evidence that the attacking tanks were not properly protected by own infantry.

Some specialists say the degree of destruction suffered by at least three tanks suggests also that after the battle they were probably “finished off” by the Turkish Air Force, so that the IS would not seize them for further use. We also still do not know how many crew members were killed in the ambush near al-Bab. For a long time, the Turkish Army’s command denied having lost any Leopards in Syria.

News from Syria regarding the scale of losses suffered by the Turkish armored forces were shocking not only for experts dealing with the military and security on a daily basis, but also the public opinion in the West, especially in Germany. No wonder – the Turkish defeat near al-Bab was not only the first irreversible combat damage suffered by the Leopard 2 tank since the moment it had been introduced into service four decades ago, but also probably the first case where an army sending state-of-the-art tanks to fight, lost so many machines in one (asymmetric!) clash. Such a spectacular defeat had not been “achieved” even by the Iraqis, using the American Abrams A1M1-SA machines quite incompetently in the fights with IS units in western Iraq in 2014–2015.