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| Leopard 2A5 MBT (Wiki Info - Image: Wiki Commons) |
BERLIN — Germany has agreed to sell 164 used tanks to Indonesia, the government confirmed Wednesday, after the Dutch parliament last year rejected a similar request over human rights concerns.
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government has given the green light to Duesseldorf-based weapons maker Rheinmetall AG to sell the tanks to Jakarta, said an economics ministry spokeswoman.
She said the total price tag was about €3.3 million ($4.3 million), suggesting that the more than 100 Leopard 2 battle tanks and other tracked vehicles are second-hand military equipment.
Merkel’s national security council decides on arms export licenses in closed meetings and usually stays tight-lipped about them until details are released in annual defense export reports.
But the government was forced to release information about the Indonesia deal after a formal request by opposition Greens party lawmaker Katja Keul, who published the response on her website.
The shipment includes 104 Leopard 2 tanks and 50 Marder 1A2s infantry fighting vehicles, as well as ammunition. Among the 10 other tanks are vehicles used in mountain terrain, mobile bridge layers and armored earth movers.
Read the full story at DefenseNews