2023-05-14 08:15:52
The six Leopard 2A4s sent by Spain to Ukraine are already in that country after passing through Poland. Were repaired and tuned in the factory of the company Santa Bárbara in Alcalá de Guadaíra (Seville) and submitted to certification tests by the Army in Cerro Muriano (Córdoba).
The Spanish Leopards sent to kyiv are part of a batch of fifty that were withdrawn from service more than a decade ago and stored in Zaragoza. Our country committed in addition to the shipment of four other tanks that are now being repaired and they could be ready at the end of June.
The Leopard 2 is a tank developed by Germany, which has produced it in series since 1978. Since then the initial design has been regularly modernizedSo there have been many versions. The most modern (the A7+) is at the level of the best and most advanced main battle tanks in the world.
According to the specialized publication Janes, up to 18 countries have active Leopard 2 tanks. The Spanish Armed Forces possess 347 Leopards, but of very different quality and condition. The most modern model is the 2A6, called here 2E, of which the Army has 239 units.
These tanks are distributed by the Extremadura (Bótoa, Badajoz), Guadarrama (El Goloso, Madrid), Guzmán el Bueno (Cerro Muriano, Córdoba) and Aragón (Zaragoza) mechanized brigades. Of the total, 219 are line cars, 16 recovery and four from school, details Infodefense.
But they are on their way to becoming obsoleteweapons experts say. Defense has not had a renewal strategy for the Leopard tank park. And yet, if he ends up doing it, it is known what the substitute would be: el KF51 Panther.
A German private project
This is a main battle tank being created by Rheinmetall engineers and designers. He KF51 is a private project, which is unusualunderline the half Defensa.com. Its development was announced in June 2022 and the German company suggests that it could be ready for production in 2026. At the moment, the German government has already signed the purchase of 14 units.
Rheinmetall talks about “a game changer for future battlefields”
The initials KF are the abbreviation of the term tracked vehicle which means tracked vehicle and 51 refers to the fact that its weight range is in the order of 50 tons. It would actually be about 59as detailed by the company in the latest edition of the world’s largest fair for the military industry Eurosatoryheld last June in Paris.
Rheinmetall highlights its mobility, based on the Leopard 2 although “much greater than current systems and has a maximum operating range of about 500 kilometers.” The German company hopes to produce “a game changer for future battlefields”, thanks to its “new standards in all areas: lethality, protection, reconnaissance, interconnection and mobility.”
The manufacturer claims to have “rethought the concept of the main battle tank… to go beyond the current tanks based on technologies from the 80s”
The company’s vice president of main battle tanks, Alexader Kuhrt, assures that they have decided completely rethinking the concept of the main battle tank and that with the KF51 they intend to go beyond the current tanks still based on technologies from the 80s, according to the information collected by European Defense Review.
Characteristics of a developing tank
Its chassis is based on the Leopard 2, but the design of the turret is different and intends to mark a different course. This turret is armed with a main gun Rheinmetall Future Gun System (FGS) of anima lisa the 130 mm and an automatic ammunition handling system with 20 rounds at the ready and a coaxial 12.7mm machine gun with a remotely controlled integrated weapon station. Additionally, it can be equipped with the HERO 120 loitering ammunition system.
The KF51 Panther will have a greater reliance on the active protection instead of passive. According to Janesthat will reduce your weight and facilitate the teamwork with unmanned platforms by providing in-hull space for a dedicated systems operator or unit commander.
It is a combat ingenuity that has little to do with those we were used to seeing until now”
“Some of these aspects define a combat ingenuity that little it has to do with those to which until now we were accustomed Let’s see, because they are trying to take a double step forward in terms of the concept that defines tanks”, they say in Defensa.com of the new tank project. “It is perceived as a safe bet,” the publication notes.
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