Leopard 1
The Kampfpanzer Leopard, subsequently Leopard 1 following the introduction of the successive Leopard 2, is a main battle tank designed by Porsche and manufactured by Krauss-Maffei in West Germany, first entering service in 1965. Developed in an era when HEAT warheads were thought to make conventional heavy armour of limited value, the Leopard design focused on effective firepower and mobility instead of heavy protection. It featured moderate armour, only effective against low caliber autocannons and heavy machine guns, giving it a high power-to-weight ratio. This, coupled with a modern suspension and drivetrain, gave the Leopard superior mobility and cross-country performance compared to most other main battle tanks of the era, only being rivaled by the French AMX-30 and Swedish Strv 103.
The main armament of the Leopard consists of a German license-built version of the British Royal Ordnance L7 105 mm rifled gun, one of the most effective and widespread tank guns of the era.
The design started as a collaborative project during the 1950s between West Germany and France, and later joined by Italy, but the partnership ended shortly after and the final design was ordered by the Bundeswehr, with full-scale production starting in 1965. In total, 6,485 Leopard tanks have been built, of which 4,744 were battle tanks and 1,741 were utility and anti-aircraft variants, not including 80 prototypes and pre-series vehicles.
The Leopard quickly became a standard of many European militaries, and eventually served as the main battle tank in over a dozen countries worldwide, with West Germany, Italy and the Netherlands being the largest operators until their retirement. Since 1990, the Leopard 1 has gradually been relegated to secondary roles in most armies. In the German Army, the Leopard 1 was completely phased out in 2003 by the Leopard 2, while Leopard 1-based vehicles are still widely used in utility roles.
The Leopard 2 has replaced the Leopard 1 in service with many other nations, with derived vehicles using the Leopard 1 hull still seeing service. Currently, the largest operators are Greece, with 520 vehicles, Turkey, with 397 vehicles, Brazil with 378 vehicles and Chile with 202 vehicles. Most of these vehicles have been upgraded with various improvements to armour, firepower and sensors to maintain their ability to engage modern threats.
Development
The Leopard project started in November 1956 in order to develop a modern tank, the Standard-Panzer, to replace the Bundeswehr's American-built M47 and M48 Patton tanks, which, though just delivered to West Germany's recently reconstituted army, were rapidly becoming outdated. On 25 July 1957, the detailed specifications were released. The new design needed to weigh no more than 30 tonnes, have a power-to-weight ratio of 30 horsepower per tonne, be able to withstand hits by 20 mm rapid-fire guns on every side as well as to operate in a battlefield contaminated with chemical weapons or radioactive fallout, the then-standard baseline for combat with the Warsaw Pact.The main armament had to consist of a 105 mm caliber weapon, carrying at least as many rounds as current US tank designs. Mobility had priority, while firepower came second. Armour was seen as less essential, as it was believed that no real protection against hollow charge weapons was possible anyway. At the time it was suspected that future conflicts would involve nuclear weapons, which no tank at the time could directly protect from.
France was very interested in the design as its own AMX 50 project had just failed. In June 1957, West Germany and the French Fourth Republic signed an agreement to develop a common tank, designated in German Europa-Panzer. Three German and one French design team were included in a competition, with each team producing two prototypes. In September 1958, Italy joined the development program. Several prototypes were entered for testing in 1960. Among the prototypes were Porsche's Model 734 from team A, sporting a cast turret, and that of team B, whose cast turret was somewhat higher. Team C from Borgward, designing a very futuristic tank, failed to have a prototype ready in time.
Even before these first prototypes were finished, it had been decided that a second phase with improved designs would be started: Team A had to build 26 phase II prototypes for testing, team B six. Only two tanks of the required six were constructed by team B.
The Porsche Prototype II was eventually selected as the winner of the contest in 1963. This did not come as a surprise: it had already been decided in 1961 to build a pre-series of 50 vehicles based on this design. Production of these was started that very year. This "0-series" was modified with a new cast turret and several hull changes to raise the rear deck to provide more room in the engine compartment and move some of the radiators to the upper sides of the hull. Before mass production of the standard version started, it was decided to add an optical range-finding system for better long-range gunnery, which required the turret to be somewhat taller, and added "bumps" on either side of the turret to mount the optics for triangulation. Germany dropped France from the joint program after France repeatedly missed deadlines for its contribution to the program.
In February 1963 Defence Minister Kai-Uwe von Hassel announced he would soon ask the defence committee in Parliament to approve production of the tank. At this time the tank weighed 40 tons and cost $250,000 each. In July the Defence Ministry ordered 1,500 tanks with production to take place between 1965 and 1970. Germany also announced its agreement to develop a successor with the United States. Called the MBT-70, the program failed to materialize a tenable design, thus West Germany independently developed the Leopard 2 as its new main battle tank, while the US made the M1 Abrams.
Production was set up at KraussMaffei of Munich from early 1964 onward, with deliveries of the first batch between September 1965 and July 1966. The Leopard was soon being purchased from Germany by a number of NATO members and other allies, including Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Italy, Denmark, Australia, Canada, Turkey and Greece. Germany has a strict export-policy for their military equipment. Greece, Spain and Chile, while still under dictatorships, purchased the French AMX-30 instead.
Description
The Leopard 1 has a conventional layout shared with numerous other post-World War II tanks, with the driver's compartment located in the front fighting compartment with a rotating turret in the centre, while the loader takes the left half and engine compartment in the rear of the hull, separated from the crew compartment with a fireproof bulkhead.The armament consists of a 105 mm L7A3 rifled main gun which was not stabilized on the first production series, and two MG 1 machine guns: one is installed co-axial with the main gun, while a second, anti-aircraft machine gun, is mounted on a skate rail above the loader's hatch. For defensive purposes, the tank has two banks of four electrically fired smoke grenade launchers on both sides of the turret, which can be fired individually or in a salvo. A reload kit with eight further smoke grenades was carried inside the turret.
The main gun uses NATO-standard 105 mm ammunition, with the majority of the loadout stored in an ammunition magazine inside of the hull, to the left of the driver's station, 3 rounds are kept in a ready rack in front of the hull magazine—for immediate use—and another 15 rounds are racked inside the turret, for a total of 60 rounds carried onboard.
The gunner takes position in front of and below the commander and is provided with a single, forward-facing observation periscope and the main sights; these consist of a Turmentfernungsmesser 1A stereoscopic rangefinder which has a selectable ×8 or ×16 magnification and is linked with the main gun, as well as a co-axial TZF 1A telescopic sight which has a moving graticule for several types of ammunition. The twin, horizontally opposed optical heads for the TEM 1A are located on both sides of the turret in armoured housings and covered by protective flaps operated by the gunner from inside the turret.
The commander maintains all-around situational awareness via eight periscopes, one of which can be substituted for an active infrared night sight. He was provided with an independent, swivel-mounted Turmrundblick-Pankrat 1A variable magnification periscope installed in the turret roof, in front of the commander's cupola, that could be slaved to the main gun and allow the commander to override the gunner and slew the turret.
The searchlight for the active IR night vision system was designated XSW-30-U and was mounted above the main gun on the mantlet, offset to the left. It could be removed and stowed in the rear turret bustle when not in use. The searchlight had a range of up to 1,200 m in ideal conditions, in the IR mode, or up to 1,500 m when projecting just white light. In later variants of the Leopard, a slightly modified, XSW-30-V searchlight was used.
Finally, the loader has two periscopes to monitor a designated sector around the vehicle.
The tank is powered by an MTU MB 838 Ca-M500 supercharged diesel engine that develops approx. at 2,200 rpms. This is a liquid-cooled, 37.4 litre, ten-cylinder, four-stroke engine in the V-90 configuration with multi-fuel capability but which was typically run on diesel fuel consuming approx. 190 litres per 100 km. The engine, along with its cooling system is coupled into a "powerpack" with a 4HP-250 transmission system, built by ZF which has a hydraulic torque converter, locking clutch, planetary gearbox and pivot turn mechanism. The entire powerpack with transmission can be replaced in the field in approx. 20 minutes as it is mated to the hull by means of quick disconnect couplings.
The tank suspension system has 14 independent torsion bars each with a control arm, and 10 hydraulic shock absorbers which are installed on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 7th pairs of road wheels. The running gear has seven pairs of dual road wheels with rubber-tyres, a rear-mounted drive sprocket, frontal idler wheel and four return rollers on either side.
The Leopard's hull is fabricated from welded armoured plate of varying thickness and geometry, while the turret is a complex all-cast component. Crew protection was enhanced with an automatic fire suppression system and an NBC protection system, which produces an overpressure in the crew compartment and provides filtration of supplied air.
The Leopard 1 can ford water obstacles by wading without any prior preparation; deeper obstacles can be negotiated by sealing the tank and fitting a foldable snorkel over the commander's cupola; two bilge pumps are provided to remove any water accumulated.