The unusual new German brigade deploying to NATO’s edge is bringing its most advanced heavy armor — the Leopard 2A8 tank

• Germany has started its first major permanent deployment of a brigade abroad since World War II.
• It is bringing advanced Leopard tanks with it, arguing the capability is necessary.
• Tanks have struggled in Ukraine, but NATO members are betting on them as they worry about Russia.

The new German brigade stationed on Russia’s doorstep is betting on tanks, even as costly armored vehicles are being damaged and destroyed by cheap off-the-shelf drones in Ukraine.

NATO allies worried about Russia are still investing in tanks, and Germany is no exception. Its new 45th Armored Brigade in Lithuania decided what it should bring from watching the war.

As the 45th begins Germany’s first significant permanent deployment of a brigade abroad since World War II, it’s bringing its Leopard 2A8 tank with it.

Commander of the brigade, Brig. Gen. Christoph Huber, told Business Insider that “this brigade has top priority in Germany” and will see the most modern German military equipment.

Huber said that it was “crucial” for the brigade to have heavy armor. “This brigade at the core is a heavy armored commitment.” That means bringing the “most modern German main battle tank.”

The 2A8 is the most advanced Leopard tank produced by KNDS Deutschland, and it features modifications such as drone protection inspired by tank performance in Ukraine.

The new modifications to the Leopard include the addition of the Trophy Active Protection System for detecting incoming threats like anti-tank missiles and drones, armor upgrades to the vulnerable turret, and sensor improvements.

With better protection against drones and other loitering threats, better sensors, modular armor, and an upgrade path, the tank offers a leap in capability, survivability, and lethality that helps to future-proof it. These tanks are now more aligned with modern combat than Leopard tanks built for Cold War-era tank fights, the Leopards Ukraine received. The new ones aren’t unbeatable by any means; however, they are a marked improvement.

“We have to introduce new capabilities in our forces based on the lessons identified in the awful war of aggression by Russia in Ukraine,” the general said.

A need for tanks

Huber said that tanks enable the brigade to conduct combined maneuver warfare, the kind of fast, coordinated operations needed to seize the initiative but have been hard to execute in Ukraine, where airpower constraints, layered defenses, and the growing drone threats have made major breakthroughs nearly impossible.

There’s no guarantee a war between NATO and Russia would resemble the war in Ukraine, especially given the range of combat capabilities available to the alliance, so while Germany is studying this conflict, it is focusing on what it might face next.

Other allies are doing the same, and tanks are still considered necessary. Lithuania, for instance, also sees the need for tanks in the country. Its chief of defense, Gen. Valdemaras Rupšys, last year called mechanized units and tank units “indispensable.”

Lithuania is buying tanks for the first time in its history, and other NATO allies have also placed new orders, while Western companies are also developing new tank technology.

The goal, Huber said, is “preparing for the war of the future, definitely not for the war of the past and probably also not for the war which is happening right now.” The best way to do this, he said, is to have “a good mix of capabilities available on the ground.”

The brigade also brings the Puma S1 infantry fighting vehicle, the Panzerhaubitze 2000 self-propelled howitzer, drones, and air defenses.

The brigade has armored backup, too. Germany’s message to the brigade, Huber said, is that it “is not alone.” It’s backed by the rest of the 10th Armored Division, meaning multiple brigades could mobilize to defend NATO’s eastern flank. “The message to Russia is clear,” he said. “Here stands NATO — no step further.”

Wars now and in the future

The war in Ukraine has been marked by videos of tanks burning in the wake of attacks by cheap drones, including German Leopard tanks and American Abrams (notably not the most advanced versions of either). Both sides have adapted, adding armor and additional protection while also employing tanks with greater caution.

Tanks in Ukraine are often used in concealed positions, further back from the front, regularly as a kind of mobile artillery. They sometimes get used in assaults, but in small numbers and in a very carefully coordinated way, where they are aided by assets like drones and electronic warfare.

Tanks have struggled in Ukraine because neither side has control of the air, leaving armored columns and large-scale mechanized assaults vulnerable to drones buzzing the battlefield for surveillance and strike purposes.

With better air assets, such as fifth-generation fighter jets, and larger arsenals of diverse capabilities, NATO might be able to avoid the headaches the armies fighting this war have faced, though the future is uncertain.

Huber said the 45th is in Lithuania to deter Russia and shield NATO’s eastern edge. It has begun operations but will not reach its full strength, a full force of 4,800 troops, until 2027. Huber said that it will be ready to act if needed, though, well before that.

Lithuania is seen as particularly vulnerable. Former CIA director David Petraeus said this year that he viewed it as the country most at risk of a Russian invasion.

The brigade deployed to Lithuania is a big step for Germany, which has taken a restrained approach since World War II and largely avoided substantial military deployments abroad. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has changed that calculus, albeit slowly.

Huber said that Germany, along with the other international forces in Lithuania, allies like Norway, the Netherlands, and the US, “are in the end defending every inch of NATO territory. We are defending our shared values, our freedom, democracy, our human rights.”