Spain has decided to go one step further in its support for Ukraine and deliver heavy material, more than a hundred days after the start of the Russian invasion. The Ministry of Defence is managing the delivery of anti-aircraft missiles aspid to the kyiv authorities. In addition, he has offered to send tanks Leopard 2A4 and instruct Ukrainian soldiers in the handling of these vehicles.
Preparations for battery delivery aspid are already in a very advanced phase, according to the newspaper The country. The department you lead Margaret Oaks finalizes the necessary procedures for the shipment of this low-level anti-aircraft defense system with the allied body in Stuttgart (Germany) that coordinates all deliveries of weapons to Ukraine from the different countries. The aspid It is a surface-to-air missile developed in the 1970s by the Italian Selenia -today MBDA-. The Land Army decommissioned this system at the end of 2020, after three decades in service, as collected Infodefensa.com. The Air Forcemeanwhile, continues to operate a more modern version, the Aspire 2000.
The ministry also manages the delivery of part of the 53 Leopard 2A4 stored some years ago in the Casetas industrial estate in Zaragoza, in the facilities of the Logistics Support Group No. 41. These tanks are part of the batch of 108 Leopards purchased from Germany. Initially, the plan was to transform them into a sapper vehicle, but the project was ultimately shelved due to lack of funding.
Defense estimates that about 40 of these cars could be overhauled and handed over to the kyiv authorities. In this case, everything indicates that the delivery will not be in the short term. The ministry must reach an agreement with a company for the review of vehicles that remain virtually hibernated without batteries and other major components. the other half of Leopard 2A4it must be remembered, they are still in service in the Ceuta and Melilla commands.
The delivery of these vehicles would also imply the training of ukrainian crews. This training would consist of two phases, according to El País, citing Defense sources. The first would be carried out in Latvia, by Army personnel who operate in the Baltic country half a dozen Leopard 2Einside the mission Enhanced Forward Presence (EFP) of the NATO. And, the second, in Spain.
Support from Spain to Ukraine
Spain is one of the few allied countries that has not sent heavy material to Ukraine. For the time being, the Ministry of Defense has delivered several shipments by plane -in A400M– and ship –on the ship Ysabel-tons of ammunition, rocket launchers C90light machine guns and individual protection equipment, mainly helmets and bulletproof vests.
The Ukrainian government has been asking Spain for heavy material for several weeks. The Leopard 2A4 They are precisely on the list of material requested by kyiv, as published by Infodefensa. The Ukrainian ambassador to Spain assured last week that the ammunition provided by Spain is only enough “for two hours of combat.” “There is good will from the Spanish Government and the Ministry of Defense about sending instructors to teach the operation of these battle tanks, but the important thing is the tanks,” he said, collects Europe Press.
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