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The Leopard 2 Thread


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On 6/5/2022 at 11:57 AM, Beer said:

According to El País Spain aims for delivery of about 40 Leo 2A4 to Ukraine. 

 

Newer reports from German Der Spiegel suggest that Spain considers sending only 10-15 tanks to Ukraine, but the whole deal is still discussed internally within the Spanish government.

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1 hour ago, SH_MM said:

 

Newer reports from German Der Spiegel suggest that Spain considers sending only 10-15 tanks to Ukraine, but the whole deal is still discussed internally within the Spanish government.

 

Considering previous reports from foreign inspections of the vehicles they probably aren't able to make more of them working in short time. 

 

Anyway sending 10-15 Leo 2 to Ukraine makes no sense at all unless it causes some other states to create a bandwagon. If alone they would be more a liability than a help. 

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Such a suggestion makes no sense. Spain only wants to give 10-15 Leopard 2A4 tanks away, while Germany has cited issues with ammunition supply (Israel blocks the export of 105 mm DM63 APFSDS ammunition to Ukraine & Germany doesn't have any leftover stocks of 105 mm ammo). Aside of that, the German government claims that there is an agreement with certain NATO/EU partners not to send Western tanks to Ukraine as long as the possibility of "Ringtausch" deals with operators of former Soviet tanks exist.

 

6 minutes ago, Beer said:

Anyway sending 10-15 Leo 2 to Ukraine makes no sense at all unless it causes some other states to create a bandwagon. If alone they would be more a liability than a help. 

 

Well, there is a NATO center for the coordination of arms deliveries to Ukraine. Before arms are sent to Ukraine, the partners discuss potential deliveries and options for cooperation. This is why Germany and the Netherlands both send a small amount of PzH 2000 SPGs (each individual delivery would be insufficient, but together it is enough for one battery). Also the announced delivery of MARS/HIMARS was seemingly coordinated.

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Again somethhing new about the Czech-German Leopard 2 deal. It turns out that the tanks to be delivered to Czechia are in fact ex-Swiss Pz-87 which were bought by Rheinmetall in 2011. The tanks shall be delivered this autumn. 

https://www.idnes.cz/technet/vojenstvi/nemecke-tanky-leopard-panzer-ceska-armada.A220606_110601_vojenstvi_alv 

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My understanding is that the first number stands for the weight class (i.e. the KF31 is a vehicle in the "30 tons class") while the second number might be for the vehicle generation (i.e. the KF31 is the first "KF" vehicle offered in the 30 tons class). However I don't think that Rheinmetall has ever confirmed this. Also note that the KF41 Lynx has an official GVW of 50 metric tons and I wouldn't be surprised if the Lynx 120 is actually exceeding that.

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More details about the Czech Leopard 2 acquistion were presented in the parlamentary defence comitee meeting. 

 

The target is to transform our WP-style tank battallion into a NATO-style battallion, i.e. increase the number of companies from 3 to 4 and also increase the number of vehicles per company. A fifth company is planned for the so called active reserve corps (they have a company of T-72M1 now). 

 

Altogether it means that the target number is 58 tanks + 15 support vehicles on tank chassis (ARV, AEV, bridge layers). 

 

After all it's not a lot of tanks but it's almost double to what we have now. 

Edited by Beer
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On 6/22/2022 at 7:06 PM, Beer said:

More details about the Czech Leopard 2 acquistion were presented in the parlamentary defence comitee meeting. 

 

The target is to transform our WP-style tank battallion into a NATO-style battallion, i.e. increase the number of companies from 3 to 4 and also increase the number of vehicles per company. A fifth company is planned for the so called active reserve corps (they have a company of T-72M1 now). 

 

Altogether it means that the target number is 58 tanks + 15 support vehicles on tank chassis (ARV, AEV, bridge layers). 

 

After all it's not a lot of tanks but it's almost double to what we have now. 

 

The 14 2A4s and 1 Buffel are coming from from Rheinmetall as I have heard. Are they aiming for some Leo2 Revo/Evolution or are they are looking for 2A7s?

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6 minutes ago, Rico said:

 

The 14 2A4s and 1 Buffel are coming from from Rheinmetall as I have heard. Are they aiming for some Leo3 Revo/Evolution or are they are looking for 2A7s?

 

Yes, the first batch which is going to be donated by the German government is from Rheinmetall stocks. They are in fact ex-Swiss Pz 87 (possibly with those curious silencers still installed). Also the ammo and spare parts shall come from Rheinmetall. 

 

For the rest of the tanks it was first said these wpuld be 2A7+ and that even the initial batch would be rebuilt into A7+ (which means only turret skelet would be kept of the original Pz 87). Now the MOD released some ambiguous words which seem to make an impression that the decision was not yet made but I think that's just a smoke screen. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...
On 1/4/2022 at 3:51 PM, SH_MM said:

A concept for a low-profile turret seemingly for the Leopard 2 was applied for by Rheinmetall in mid-2020. This seems to be a more refined version of the turret concept developed by Wegmann for the Kampfpanzer 3 tank program of the mid to late 1980s.

 

ZMJZCLF.png

Hi SH_MM,

Im new here and im having a hard time wrapping my head around what this patent is desribing. Do you have a link to the patent or could you idealy explain what it is about and how it is related with the Wegmann flat turret/ cleft turret thing

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  • 3 weeks later...

Finland procures a  batch of new darts for 14m€. If I were to guess, I’d say DM63A1’s, propably replacing ageing DM33 stocks. DM63 has been already earlier introduced in Finnish inventory.

 

https://www.defmin.fi/en/topical/press_releases_and_news/defence_forces_to_procure_ammunition_for_leopard_2_battle_tanks.13038.news#892b2703

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  • 4 weeks later...
7 hours ago, Cheburashka said:

Can somebody please give me a quick rundown on frontal sensors starting from the inner side(from the barrel). I believe that the outmost one is the Trophy radar?

 

The innermost sensor, the tan rectangle with many lenses, appears to be an Elbit laser warning receiver.

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