Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 8,994
The first "Leopard"...
On September 9, 1965, in the presence of then Defense Minister Kai Uwe von Hassel and the then Army Chief of Staff, General Ulrich de Maizière, the German Armed Forces ceremonially commissioned the first "Leopard"-type main battle tank...:
The tank is then handed over to the crew of the 4th company of Panzerlehrbataillon 93 (Munster)...:
From 1964 to 1984, 4744 units of the tank known today as "Leopard 1" were produced.
The "Leopard" is based on the Porsche Type 814 test tank...
...and is a further development of the 0 series.
Designed as a turret tank in a conventional arrangement, it has a 4-man crew. The commander is on the right in the turret, below him at his feet is the gunner, on the other side of the cannon and thus on the left is the loader.
In addition to the driver, the tub accommodates an ammunition holder for the main weapon as well as an NBC protection and ventilation system that generates overpressure by sucking in outside air through filters. Only the machine room has a fire suppression system against fire. The extinguishing agent is halon. The four extinguishing agent containers are located by the driver. Two of the containers trigger automatically, two more can be triggered manually.
General properties
Crew 4 (commander, gunner, loader, driver)
Length 9.55 m with tube at 12 o'clock
8.17 m at Rohr at 6 o'clock
Width 3.37m
Height 2.62 m
Mass 42.5 tons
armor and armament
Armor armor steel
Spaced armor on turrets (A3, A4, AS1. C1)
Main armament British 105 mm L7A3 with 28 rifling
Secondary armament 2 × 7.62 mm MG3 (coaxial and AA MG on turret), smoke grenade launcher
By building an underwater drive shaft and the diving hydraulics, waters up to a maximum depth of four meters can be passed through...
All hatches are closed except for the commander's. The diving hydraulics closes the ventilation on the engine and opens a combustion air flap on the engine bulkhead inside the tank. During wading, deep wading and underwater driving, the engine sucks in the combustion air via the commander's hatch with the deep wading or underwater drive shaft attached.
The commander stands in this shaft when driving through and supports the driver when driving through. At the same time, the shaft serves as an emergency exit in the event of an accident. Since water ingress cannot be completely avoided, the tank has two bilge pumps.
The tank is fully night-fighting and partially all-weather capable. It is possible to install a residual light amplifier for drivers and loaders. A corner mirror is removed.
13 other states will acquire the “Leopard”.
The cost per tank in 1965 ranges from $800,000 to $1.5 million.
The engine can sometimes get very hot under full load...:
Today, 50 of these old tanks, which have been "upgraded in combat value" and which have been decommissioned by the German Bundeswehr, are ready to be driven in a warehouse at the Rheinmetall factory.
In this country and in NATO nobody needs them.
However, the Ukraine urgently need them - and the Ukrainian government has repeatedly asked for them to be supplied, which the manufacturer would also be willing to do.
But the German Chancellor, Scholz, refuses to give the necessary permission for reasons that only he does understand...
On September 9, 1965, in the presence of then Defense Minister Kai Uwe von Hassel and the then Army Chief of Staff, General Ulrich de Maizière, the German Armed Forces ceremonially commissioned the first "Leopard"-type main battle tank...:
The tank is then handed over to the crew of the 4th company of Panzerlehrbataillon 93 (Munster)...:
From 1964 to 1984, 4744 units of the tank known today as "Leopard 1" were produced.
The "Leopard" is based on the Porsche Type 814 test tank...
...and is a further development of the 0 series.
Designed as a turret tank in a conventional arrangement, it has a 4-man crew. The commander is on the right in the turret, below him at his feet is the gunner, on the other side of the cannon and thus on the left is the loader.
In addition to the driver, the tub accommodates an ammunition holder for the main weapon as well as an NBC protection and ventilation system that generates overpressure by sucking in outside air through filters. Only the machine room has a fire suppression system against fire. The extinguishing agent is halon. The four extinguishing agent containers are located by the driver. Two of the containers trigger automatically, two more can be triggered manually.
General properties
Crew 4 (commander, gunner, loader, driver)
Length 9.55 m with tube at 12 o'clock
8.17 m at Rohr at 6 o'clock
Width 3.37m
Height 2.62 m
Mass 42.5 tons
armor and armament
Armor armor steel
Spaced armor on turrets (A3, A4, AS1. C1)
Main armament British 105 mm L7A3 with 28 rifling
Secondary armament 2 × 7.62 mm MG3 (coaxial and AA MG on turret), smoke grenade launcher
By building an underwater drive shaft and the diving hydraulics, waters up to a maximum depth of four meters can be passed through...
All hatches are closed except for the commander's. The diving hydraulics closes the ventilation on the engine and opens a combustion air flap on the engine bulkhead inside the tank. During wading, deep wading and underwater driving, the engine sucks in the combustion air via the commander's hatch with the deep wading or underwater drive shaft attached.
The commander stands in this shaft when driving through and supports the driver when driving through. At the same time, the shaft serves as an emergency exit in the event of an accident. Since water ingress cannot be completely avoided, the tank has two bilge pumps.
The tank is fully night-fighting and partially all-weather capable. It is possible to install a residual light amplifier for drivers and loaders. A corner mirror is removed.
13 other states will acquire the “Leopard”.
The cost per tank in 1965 ranges from $800,000 to $1.5 million.
The engine can sometimes get very hot under full load...:
Today, 50 of these old tanks, which have been "upgraded in combat value" and which have been decommissioned by the German Bundeswehr, are ready to be driven in a warehouse at the Rheinmetall factory.
In this country and in NATO nobody needs them.
However, the Ukraine urgently need them - and the Ukrainian government has repeatedly asked for them to be supplied, which the manufacturer would also be willing to do.
But the German Chancellor, Scholz, refuses to give the necessary permission for reasons that only he does understand...
