Well this next from a reliable reference and sourced from the German Ministry of Defense ought to "shake things up" a little.
The highlights are from the German Ministry of Defense...
"The Germans are planning to upgrade the Leopard 2A4 tanks that remain in storage up to the 2A7 variant, and then to introduce them into the Bundeswehr’s inventory, so that the Army would have 320, instead of 225 tanks at its disposal."
- This has been discussed for sometime now. Target dates for modernization are 2017/2018.
"The Germans had decided to procure around 100 additional Leopard 2A4 tanks from the defence industry companies. These tanks had been withdrawn from active use in April 2015."
- Now this might have some game bearing, it I think would extend the end date for the latest version of the LEO 2A4. These tanks (In storage now.) would be the modernization platform to the LEO 2A7.
"Besides the stored Leopards, the Bundeshwehr is also willing to introduce 16 Dutch Leopard 2A6NL main battle tanks into active service.
Initially, the Dutch Ministry of Defence was planning to completely withdraw main battle tanks tanks from active service. Nonetheless, ultimately it was decided that a single company would become a part of the German-Dutch armoured battalion, formed within the framework of the Bundeswehr’s 414th Battalion, initially seen as a reserve unit which now has been reactivated."
- The Dutch originally intended on selling these tanks as well, however due to questions concerning the potential buyers human rights record, the Parliament nixed the deal. Now the question becomes how do we treat these tanks in the Netherlands OOB? We've already set the precedence with the SADF Denel AH-2 Rooivalk, where as you might recall the "fleet" was grounded and modernized over an 18-24 month period. We set the end date of the AH-2 when officially grounded and added the new modernized version when it "re" entered service. Do we consider the same for the Dutch Leopard 2A6NL?
And you'll love this and I never really doubted it but...
"In order to fully equip the existing units of the Army, including six armoured battalions together with the training units, ca. 320 Leopards are needed. The German Army,
at the moment, has a little more than 200 Leopard 2A6 tanks at its disposal, with
minor quantities of Leopard 2A7 and Leopard 2A5 platforms complementing the above package."
- The bold is mine. This does throw a wrench into the whole LEO 2A7 issue I believe the Germans had at least one or two (I think one to be "more" correct.) companies worth of them before the Qatar and Saudi deals fell through for these same tanks. Those deals were to help pay for the Bundeshwehr to acquire them in numbers. The LEO 2A5 we left in service I believe but, this needs verification.
Beyond the LEO 2A7...
Who knows but cooperation with the French to jointly development a MBT is currently still ongoing to include the forming of a company. But that you'll have to read for yourself. The rest is in the MBT/HELO and Patch Threads as discussed above.
Full article.
http://www.defence24.com/380302,germ...hin-the-media#
German OOB check results and please check me as I'm trying to beat the clock!!...
***LEOPARD 2A4 recommend UNIT 268 for service date extension to above date 04/2015. Currently at 12/2010, looks like this was the last one in service in the OOB.***
***LEOPARD 2A5 recommend UNIT 275 for service date extension. Appears last two LEO 2A5 (UNITS 273/275) came out of service in 2010.***
***LEOPARD 2A7 still in the game recommend no changes. I thought though at was discussed it would be put into the "HOLD" status when the topic came up whether they had them yet or not. I'm 
leave it.***
Regards,
Pat
