German Aid to Ukraine@deaidua
The 1st Tank Battalion of the 5th Heavy Mechanized Brigade has shared some very interesting details about the Ukrainian Leopard 1 MBTs and some upgrades in an interview with @Oboronka1.
Apparently one heavily up-armoured Leopard 1A5 withstood the impact of 52 (!) FPV drones over the course of a full day this February, with all crew members surviving the Russian attack. Another interesting fact was shared about upgrading the Leopard 1A5s.
@CharityPrytula is funding a proposal from the 1st Tank Battalion to retrofit an in-house 360° view into the Leopards. The system itself consists of four cameras and a single 10-inch monitor, through which the commander can see everything happening around him. The cameras were mounted on the turret, and for reliability, the footage is transmitted to the turret via cables.
Thanks to Starlink terminals installed on each tank, the footage from the cameras is uploaded to the battalion's command post, where the officers in charge are now able to more effectively assist the tank commander in carrying out his mission and warn the crew of approaching enemy drones.
Currently, the first 10 Leopard 1A5s are being equipped with these systems, which interestingly only cost about 40,000 hryvnias (€800) per unit.
H/t @NedSnow2019