Armor: March 9, 2002

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Poland has agreed to buy 128 Leopard-2 tanks from Germany for the bargain basement price of $21.6 million along with 23 MiG-29 fighters for only $30 million. The tanks will be selected by the Polish Army from the three hundred Leopard-2s now stored after being taken out of use by the German Army. These tanks have at least 75% of their operational life remaining. The deal includes 8 Buffel armored recovery vehicles, four Biber bridgelayers, four Keiler mine-clearing tanks, and ten M577 command post vehicles. These will go to the 10th Armored Cavalry Brigade, the Polish brigade of the multinational 7th German Panzer Division. The tanks will be delivered by the end of 2003 and the MiG-29s in June of 2003.--Stephen V Cole