After Saudi-Arabia, Qatar is also Interested in German Leopard 2 Tanks

The emirate of Qatar has expressed interest in buying up to 200 Leopard 2 tanks, the german magazine Der SPIEGEL wrote. It is not clear whether the tanks are new production or refurbished from the German Army surplus stocks. A delegation from the tank manufacturer Krauss-Maffei Wegmann travelled several weeks ago to Qatar to discuss the project. Unlike the opposition the proposed sale of similar tanks to Saudi Arabia, offering the tanks to Qatar has not caused any adverse objections in Germany.

Another customer for the used German tanks is Indonesia. Jakarta is about to receive 100 tanks by October, if the acquisition will pass the German Parliament objections. Such objections, particularly by the left parties, have aborted Berlin’s plans to sell 270 of the latest model Leopard 2 tanks to Saudi-Arabia. The Saudi deal would be for new production series, meaning billions in revenues for the german industry.

Following the opposition raised in Germany for recent arms sales initiatives, the government, backed by defense industries lobby is calling for the revision of the German arms sales policy, revisiting the ‘black list’ of countries to which German made arms should not be exported. Such a move has recently been opposed by other NATO members during the Chicago summit in May 2012.