Leclerc tank
The Leclerc is a third-generation French main battle tank developed and manufactured by KNDS France. It was named in honour of Marshal Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque, a commander of the Free French Forces, who led the 2nd Armoured Division in World War II.
The Leclerc is in service with the French Army, Jordanian Army and the United Arab Emirates Army. In production since 1991, the Leclerc entered French service in 1992, replacing the AMX-30 as the country's main armoured platform. With production now complete, the French operate 222 Leclercs, while the United Arab Emirates possesses 388.
Of the units in French service, 200 will be upgraded to the Leclerc XLR standard with deliveries expected to begin in 2022. During the Eurosatory 2024 presented Leclerc Evolution and EMBT ADT140, prototypes of the enhanced fourth-generation main battle tank.
History
In 1964, studies were initiated about a possible replacement vehicle for the AMX-30 main battle tank: the Engin Principal Prospectif. In 1971, in view of the inferiority of the AMX-30 in comparison to the new generation of Soviet tanks about to be introduced, the Direction des Armements Terrestres ordered the beginning of the Char Futur project. In 1975, a working committee was created, and in 1977 it agreed on a list of specifications. In February 1980 however, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed with West Germany involving the joint development of a MBT, called the Napoléon I in France and Kampfpanzer III in Germany. Fundamental disagreements about its desired configuration led to a failure of this cooperation in December 1982. It was announced that a purely French battle tank would be developed, called "EPC". The importation of foreign equipment, like the M1 Abrams, the Leopard 2, or the Merkava, had been studied and rejected.In contrast to most Western programmes of the time, more emphasis was placed on active than passive protection to limit overall vehicle mass. Mobility for evading enemy fire and fire control systems were given particular attention. Nevertheless, it was a stated design goal to achieve at least double the protection against KE-penetrators in comparison to the level attained in then-current MBTs of the fifty-ton weight class, the latter indicated at about 400 mm RHA equivalency. The higher level of protection would also protect against shaped charges.
Partnership with a foreign state was sought to limit unit cost, and found when the UAE ordered 436 vehicles, adding to the 426 units already planned for the French Army.
In 1986, the project was started under the name "Leclerc", and six prototypes were swiftly built. Mass production started in 1990 with the four-unit Batch 1, used mainly for comparative tests in foreign countries. The 17 units of Batch 2 shipped with turret and hull armour improvements, but were diagnosed with engine and suspension problems and quickly retired. Batch 3 followed with further improvements and used to define the doctrine of use as well as instruction. Batches 4 and 5 were better built, eliminating recurring powerplant problems, and are still in service after having been refitted in the late 1990s.
The second series started with Batch 6, with an added climate control system in the right rear of the turret. Batch 7 introduced a transmission system to the command vehicle, and a data system giving instantaneous vision of the state of all battle tanks and acquired targets. It also incorporated minor improvements in the visor. Batch 8 units had a modernised electronic system, and Batch 9 replaced the ATHOS thermal imaging with a SAGEM Iris providing better resolution.
In 2003, the Greek army sought to acquire a new tank and tested the T-80U, T-84, Leclerc, M1A2 Abrams, Challenger 2E and Leopard 2A5. The Leclerc received a perfect score at the firing range, with 20 rounds fired from 1500 and at 2000 m away. Its hunter-kill test performance was weaker, with the Leclerc scoring 13 out of 20, compared with 17 for the Leopard. Both the Leclerc and Leopard sustained a nine-round-per-minute firing rate, higher than those of the other tanks. The Leclerc achieved a 500 km range, higher than the others. But price tags seemed to be a determining factor and the Greek Army selected the Leopard.
All previous Leclerc batches were to be modernised to Batch 9 standards as of 2005. In 2004, Batch 10 was presented, incorporating a new armour package and information systems that could share the location of enemy and friendly units with all vehicles on the battlefield. This was the beginning of the 96-unit third series. By 2007, 355 tanks were to have been operational, 320 of them incorporated in four regiments, each with 80 Leclercs.
, after a French defence review, each of the four regiments operated 60 Leclerc tanks for a total of 240 in operational units; with a further 100 in combat ready reserve. Due to financial cuts, only 254 tanks were fully operational in 2011.
Main Ground Combat System
In 2015, Nexter Systems merged with German Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, maker of the Leopard 2 tank, to form KMW+Nexter Defense Systems, and the German Ministry of Defence announced plans to develop a new tank jointly with France as a successor to both the Leopard 2 and Leclerc tanks, named Main Ground Combat System. At the 2018 Eurosatory, KNDS presented a technology demonstrator tank combining the hull of a Leopard 2A7 with the lighter, two-man turret of a Leclerc.System architecture definition and technology demonstration phase was to be completed by 2024, with production and testing to start in 2028.
UAE bribery allegation
In September 2018, Der Spiegel reported that an intermediary in the $3 billion-plus UAE tank sale was paid a commission of nearly US$200 million, and that part of the sum may have been used to bribe government officials.Design
Armament
Primary
The Leclerc is armed with a 120 mm version F1 smoothbore gun designed by the arsenal of Bourges under the designation of CN120-26. Its barrel is 52 calibres long instead of the 44 calibre common on most main battle tanks of its generation, giving the projectile a higher muzzle velocity.The Modèle F1 is compatible with 120x570mm NATO ammunition. This gun features a magnesium alloy thermal sleeve and an automatic loading mechanism. Elevation, depression, and turret traverse are electrically powered. The Leclerc EMAT used by the French Army relies on compartment overpressure for barrel fume extraction while the UAE tropicalized Leclerc uses a compressed-air fume extraction system.
Autoloader
Located inside the turret bustle, the autoloader is designated CHA and was designed by Creusot-Loire Industrie. The autoloader itself weighs 500 kg and has a total volume of 1.68 m. In case of ammunition cooking off, the deflagration is vented by two blow-out panels.The autoloader allows the reloading of the gun while firing on the move, providing it a sufficient rate of fire to deal with six targets in one minute. The nominal firing sequence is below 8 seconds and the repetition rate is below 6 seconds. The autoloader is managed by a TM Motorola 68021 microprocessor.
The autoloader consists of a continuous link carrier magazine made of 22 cells and a rammer assembly. It can accommodate all types of ammunition that are to the NATO standard. Up to six different types of ammunition can be selected.
The cell positions the selected round for loading. At the same time, the main gun is decoupled from the stabilization system, indexed to 1.8° elevation and locked in alignment with the loading gutter. Then, a telescopic rammer pushes the round from the cell into the gun breech via a fiberglass gutter. After loading, the weapon is automatically driven back to the specified angle in accordance with the fire control system.
In case of a power outage, the conveyor can be put into motion by using a hand-cranked electric generator.
The ammunition is normally inserted in the autoloader through a port in the rear wall of the turret bustle. A control panel allows the autoloader cells to be rotated to present a new empty cell. Two barcode readers identify the introduced ammunition in order to manage its position in the conveyor at any time. If the ammunition does not have a barcode, its type is entered through the control keyboard. It is possible to replenish the autoloader under armour, through a port in the inner bulkhead by using the 18 rounds cylinder located to the right of the driver's position.
Secondary
The Leclerc is also equipped with a 12.7 mm coaxial M2 heavy machine gun and a turret-mounted 7.62 mm machine gun, whereas most other NATO tanks use 7.62 mm weapons for both their coaxial and top machine gun mounts; the major exception is the American M1 Abrams, which has a 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun and two top-mounted machine guns, one 7.62 mm and one 12.7 mm.Fire control and observation
The last 96 MBT XL Leclerc tanks have the ICONE TIS battle management system with digital communication system which integrates data from other tanks and upper levels of command. Since 2009, all the Leclerc tanks in service have ICONE BMS.The digital fire control system can be operated independently by the gunner or the commander, and it offers real time integrated imaging from all of the tank's sensors and sights, including the gunner's SAVAN 20 stabilised sight, developed by SAGEM.
The Leclerc tank features the HL 60 gunner's primary sight from SAGEM. The sight has two day channels; a direct one with ×3.3 and ×10 magnification and a video channel with ×10 magnification. The thermal channel offers ×3 and ×10 magnifications.
The Athos thermal imager has a detection range of 5000 m, can recognize targets at 2500 m and identify them at 2000 m. The laser range finder is of the Nd:YAG type. No emergency or auxiliary sights are mounted.
The tank commander can observe the surroundings through 7 episcopes and the SFIM HL 70 stabilized panoramic sight. The HL 70 is equipped with a day channel at ×2.5 and ×10 magnification and a night channel with ×2.5 magnification.
The UAE tropicalized Leclerc uses the improved HL 80 panoramic sight which features an electronic zoom ×2 and a laser range finder of the Nd:YAG type. The image intensifier is replaced by an Alis thermal imager.
The Leclerc SXXI uses the HL 120 panoramic sight that incorporates an Iris thermal imager.
Both sights are also equipped with a semi-auto tracker for target acquisition. The combination of the gunner's primary sight and commander's panoramic sight allows the Leclerc to operate in a hunter-killer mode.