Western Armor Looking East Again

For decades, the battlefield in Europe was in the East, as nations piled up armament in fear of a massive escalation that never occurred. Today, the playing field is still in the same place, but commercial strategies have replaced operational considerations. Armament producers in Western Europe are being called upon by Eastern countries, which are struggling to overcome the consequences of their Soviet past.

An estimated 40 000 BMP-1s were built since the program’s inception in the 1960s, and many armies still use them - although they are nearing the point of irrelevance facing more modern types of armor.

The trouble is that the military industry has been considerably concentrated in past decades, and Russia is only getting itself back on its feet. As military equipment gradually became more complex in Europe, most industrial firms dropped out of the market, leaving virtually only German Rheinmetall and French Nexter as armor providers. Nexter has designed the latest VBCI armored personnel carrier, designed in France and battle-proven in Afghanistan and Mali. The United Kingdom, which no longer can build its own armor, has expressed interest in purchasing it, and Nexter hopes to field many units in the armor-hungry nations of Eastern Europe. The VBCI is equipped with the latest military technology and is designed with modules that can be fitted with modern and future land drones. Janes.com writes:

“While the French Army VBCIs are fitted with a one-person turret armed with a 25mm dual feed cannon and 7.62mm co-axial machine gun (MG), other armament solutions are possible. French Army CP vehicles are fitted with a remote weapon station armed with a .50 M2 HB MG. If a heavier weapon system is wanted, a VBCI has been successfully tested with the Nexter Systems T40M two-person turret armed with a CTAI 40mm CTAS and 7.62mm MG."

German Rheinmetall is hoping to sell it highly-praised (though excessively priced) Leopard 2 to its Eastern neighbors, replenish their capacity for defense, and cover up the bad ink it’s been getting lately after its involvement in the Turkish attack on Kurdistan. Army Technology writes: “The turn of the year has been a busy period for Rheinmetall.  The German company is engaging in a series of talks for joint ventures and investments to rapidly impose itself at the center of the European land defence industrial base. However, Rheinmetall's activities might be motivated more by a survivability dilemma than a genuinely expansionist strategy, according to an analysis by GlobalData." The Leopard 2 is the fer-de-lance of Germany's world-famous armor industry and is considered one of the world's best tanks.

Russia didn’t float the bill for entire fleets, back in the Soviet days, purely out of its good heard. By fielding its own equipment to satellite countries, Moscow built defense layers around itself and ensured loyalty. Military historian Tom Laemlein writes: “After four years of the Great War, all of Europe was overflowing with a mish-mash of military equipment, particularly small arms. The newly formed Polish Republic inherited large amounts of rifles from Russia, Germany and the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. However, spare parts and trained armorers were in short supply. A wide range of ammunition added an unwanted level of complexity. Without a functioning armaments industry of their own, Polish military leaders strove to consolidate rifles issued to their troops into the major types.” Economic dependence and inferior technological capacities left Eastern European countries with few choices but to turn towards Russia to re-arm. Once Soviet armor had been fielded in the respective armies, the need for maintenance further consolidated the ties with the Russian parent-state.

Eastern and Central Europe have reached the point of obsolescence, which they pushed back to its limit. Now that the time for the inevitable overhaul has arrived, many of these countries will have few options: once again turn to Moscow for assistance, jump out of the pan into the fire by turning to the U.S. (which seems disinclined lately to increase military assistance budgets in Europe), or turn to its European neighbors. So far, the strategic setting resembles a no-brainer.

Donald Ramsay is an Independent organizational consultant. Specialised in Defence and Security sectors, by passion and by profession.