Now was that a good idea? So, the Russians built a tank, the T-14 Armata, which is a big challenge for the West, that’s how strong it’s supposed to be. (Just as the Russian Armada is a challenge overall, a mighty one.) And the West, here the German armaments group Rheinmetall, wants to counter it with something: a new main battle tank, which was obviously developed quickly on its own, praised as a masterpiece.
He has now been introduced and is called – yes, yes, “Panther”. To perceive this as at least unfortunate naming does not require too much sensitivity. And if the association were intentional, it would be even more unfortunate: the new Panther versus the new T-14 – like the Wehrmacht’s former Panther versus the T-34, the Soviet Army’s most powerful tank at the time?
The Panther of that time ended up being used in the Soviet Union, and military experts compared the Battle of the Donbass to the Battle of the Kursk Bulge in 1943. Now the “KF51 Panther” is seen as the successor to the famous “Leopard 2”. But firstly, the Franco-German tank cooperation that is still being striven for is better under all circumstances for intra-European cohesion – secondly, a different name for sure. Nothing related to WWII is a good idea in these new times.
