German army to recommission 100 Leopard tanks,

FRANKFURT:

The German army is to bring back into
service around 100tanks sold to industry
the ministry of defence said on Saturday,

The move will bring to 328 the number
of Leopard 2 tanks the German army has
at its disposal, up from 225 at present,
a ministry spokesman told AFP,confirming
a report in the weekly magazine Der Spiegel

The  tanks will have to be updated to integrate
the latest technology ,with the modernisation
process due to stare in 2017,

The decision follows the creation of a new
spearhead force of about  5000 troops able
to deploy anywhere within a couple of  days,

The unit agreed by NATO leaders stung into
action by the Ukraine crisis is due to be
operational by 2016 with command centres
being set up in NATO 's east European members,
AFP<