European Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

FORBIN said:

A330 MRTT 14 for France

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The initial order of 14 has been reduced to 12 due to budget cut according to 2013 white paper.

Jeff Head said:

Makes for a nice laugh though...hehehe!.

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That was the intention...I am glad you had a laugh, though.



Interesting comparison of their size.

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Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) handed over the latest version of the Leopard 2 main battle tank (MBT), the Leopard 2A7, to the inspector general of the German Army, Lieutenant General Rainer Korff on 10 December at their Munich facility.

The Leopard 2A7 MBT leverages the earlier Leopard 2A5, 2A6, and Leopard 2 Peace Support Operation variants, combined with significant input from operational experience of Leopard 2 MBTs deployed by Canada and Denmark in Afghanistan.

The German Army has ordered a total of 20 Leopard 2A7 MBTs and the last of these will soon be delivered from KMW's Munich facility and issued to Tank Battalion 203, which currently operates 44 Leopard 2A6s.

Lt Gen Korff stated that "this is a good day for the German Army" and that "they are more than satisfied with the Leopard 2A7".

The batch of 20 German Leopard 2A7 MBTs are in fact conversions of ex-Royal Netherlands Army Leopard 2A6 NL, which were provided by Canada as compensation for the Leopard 2A6M taken from German Army stocks and upgraded for deployment to Afghanistan.

Funding permitting, the German Army hopes to get finance to enable its complete fleet of Leopard 2A6 MBTs to be upgraded to the latest Leopard 2A7 standard.

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Brief summary:

-In 2007 Canada lent 20 Leopard 2A6M from Germany for the mission in A-stan.

-These tanks received minor modifications by KMW according to Canada´s needs. The designation changed to Leopard 2A6M CAN.

-Between 2007 and 2011 Canada used these tanks very intensively in A-stan.

-The Canadian army was so heavily satisfied with these tanks that they decided to not give them back to Germany and keep them instead. (j/k)

-So Canada bought 20 former Dutch Leopard 2A6 and let them modernise to the 2A6M version to give them back to Germany because this was the version they lent from the Bundeswehr.
(Canada bought additionally a number of former Dutch Leopard 2A4 for its own needs and let them upgrade to the Leopard 2A4M CAN version.)

-Germany decided to use this opportunity to pimp these tanks with all available upgrades and improvements. Canada paid only the works required for the 2A6M standard - all other costs connected with the rest of the upgrades were paid by Germany.

-And the result of these works was the mighty Leopard 2A7 - the world´s most advanced main battle tank!


From left to right: Leopard 2A6M CAN / Leopard 2A7 / Leopard 2A4M CAN



The lady is the Canadian ambassador in Germany.



Leopard 2A7



Leopard 2A7



On the left: Leopard 2A7 / On the right: Leopard 2A4M CAN



Leopard 2A7



Leopard 2A7

Some pictures of the Leopard 2A7+.

LEOPARD 2
With the performance characteristics of the A7+

The Leopard 2A7 + was developed and qualified for the new tasks of the German Armed Forces. The system components, optimized to protect the crew, prove thier worth, currently being in use in Afghanistan with NATO's Partner Canada.

Amongst others its features include:

-Passive all-round protection for the crew against threats such as roadside bombs, mines and bazooka fire
-Interface for attaching implements, such as a mine plow, mine roller or a dozer blade for clearing mines, booby traps or building debris blocking the roads
-Cooling system for both the turret and chassis
-Increased power-rated additional power generators for check-point missions
-Communication interface on the exterior of the vehicle for dismounted forces
-Combined driver's night vision (thermal imager / image intensifier) for front and rear view
-Improved optoelectronics (day / night) for reconnaissance over long distances
-Digitized and multifunctional user concept

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Poland bought Norwegian missiles and equipment today for the second Coast Defense division for $175.3 million. In total Poland will have 72 NSM's.

HMS Astute said:

- the world´s most advanced main battle tank!

Leopard 2A7

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Note if you will the Camouflage netting it helps break up the shape of the Tank and at a distance can really let it hide 3D camo is starting to appear on armored vehicles and is one of the trends I think we will see really come to fruition in the next decades be it as simple as camo netting like this Tank "Ghillie suit" or more advanced liek this tacticam a 3D camouflage applique Panels cut to the shape of the vehicle but textured with layers of 3d Blocks adding shadow and randomization they can even add Radar absorbent or IR Suppressive features

HMS Astute said:

Poland bought Norwegian missiles and equipment today for the second Coast Defense division for $175.3 million. In total Poland will have 72 NSM's.

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Poland Navy get yet a Coastal defence squadron with 6 TEL each with 4 NSM based to Siemirowice, have also sqn's for short range AA defense.

Sweden JAS-39 video

What a stunning tank and no question that Leopard 2A7+ is the best war fighting tank in the world, above all it's built by Germany, the look the structure and the equipment second to none

A brilliant piece of modern engineering by the Germans a dream tank for any tank division