Details on the Leopard 2 upgrade
This is what the new KNDS battle tank should be able to do
15.06.2024, 17:04
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The announcement alone is causing a stir in specialist circles: at the arms fair in Paris, the German-French manufacturer KNDS wants to present a further developed version of the Leopard 2. Experts are talking about a “radical cut”.
The German main battle tank Leopard 2 is getting a possible successor: The military equipment supplier KNDS wants to present the prototype of a new, fundamentally revised version alongside the Leclerc XLR at the upcoming Eurosatory arms fair. Initial information about this was made public days before the planned presentation in Paris. Little by little, further details are becoming known: The new weapon system called “Leopard 2 A-RC 3.0” is said to differ from its predecessors and competing models in more than just important features.
Manufacturer KNDS is daring to make a “radical change” with its new battle tank design, as it was described in an initial assessment in the trade magazine “European Security & Technology” (ES&T). The revised version is therefore not only to be understood as a further development of the Leopard 2 series equipped with the latest technology. The new concept also clearly represents a break with the proven Leopard design.
The most important features of the new tank concept are the automated main weapon and the better protected accommodation of the crew. Unlike the Leopard 2 models used by the German army, the commander and gunner no longer sit exposed in the turret of the tank, but rather further down in the vehicle.
Flat turret, new cannon
The new spatial concept means that the manufacturer can do without some of the expensive additional armor. “The turret is extremely flat and does not protrude into the hull,” write the ES&T experts. This not only ensures a more inconspicuous silhouette and improved protection for the crew. The armor saved should also significantly reduce the overall weight.
The manufacturer has not yet provided any information on the “technical maturity” of the new Leo concept. However, despite all the innovations installed, the entire system should be completely backwards compatible. This means that damage to wearing parts such as the chain, drive and transmission should be repairable using existing tools and spare parts. “Every Leopard 2 variant currently in use can be upgraded to the new standard,” promises KNDS.
KNDS wants to install the new “Ascalon” tank gun in the turret, which can fire conventional 120-millimeter tank ammunition as well as programmable high-tech grenades that can be precisely controlled to explode in front of, over or on the target. The automatic loading system should enable an unusually fast rate of fire – with minimal wear. Different calibers are possible depending on the customer.
Sensitivity in tank construction
In short: With the new design proposal, KNDS apparently wants to present a basis for negotiations in order to start discussions with procurement authorities in various buyer countries. The manufacturer itself is promoting the new model as a “bridging solution” on the way to the planned German-French “Main Ground Combat System” (MGCS).
Since the new tank system of the future is not expected to be in service with the troops before 2040, interim solutions such as the “A-RC 3.0” version could at least serve as demonstration vehicles for new technologies. So far, however, the Leo-2-A-RC draft is only a kind of design study. ES&T reported that there is no information yet about the “technical maturity” of the innovations being discussed.
The KNDS company has to contend not only with technical but also with diplomatic challenges: a few years after the merger, German and French tank developers are also cautiously merging their previous main product lines, Leopard and Leclerc.
The “peculiar version designation” alone shows how much sensitivity German-French tank construction requires in practice. With the cumbersome designation “Leopard 2 A-RC 3.0”, KNDS “probably wanted to avoid a name dispute” and the Leopard 3 debate, according to ES&T. The new design would thus be an intermediate step between Leclerc and Leopard and the MGC system that will be built jointly in the future.
The latest available tank version of the Leopard series is listed in the manufacturer’s order book under the name “Leopard 2 A8”. Germany has already ordered some of these: the German army is to receive the first of a total of 18 Leo A8s scheduled for delivery next year – as a replacement for the older Leopard 2 versions handed over to Ukraine.