KMW celebrates 30th anniversary of the Leopard 2 in active duty

09:52 GMT, November 6, 2009 defpro.com | Lieutenant Colonel Marco Geerke, Head of Operations for the Leopard 2 with the Germany Army, put it succinctly by emphasising that “despite its age, it is no historical vehicle”. In fact, the 30th anniversary of the commissioning of the Leopard 2 main battle tank (MBT), celebrated yesterday at the Munich headquarter of the manufacturer and prime contractor, Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW), proved very well that this tank is not old at all. Its basic concept is such a success story that the German Army plans to keep it in service until approximately 2030. This would signify that the Leopard 2 would then have been used for more than 50 years – naturally in an extensive range of versions and with constantly evolving capabilities. Lt. Col. Geerke’s statement that this could be compared to the decommissioning of the ‘Königstiger’ of World War II in 1995, puts this significant period of time in a new perspective.

In times of fast-paced and constant development of new technologies, capabilities and requirements, it is rather unusual for any platform, and particularly for a primarily offensive asset, to remain up to the tasks and demands as has been achieved by the Leopard 2. Furthermore, in a market that offers more or less comparable alternatives, for instance from the US, Russia or France, this is underlined by the impressive number of users, now amounting to 16 nations, of which some only recently received the newest models or upgraded surplus tanks. The user nations include Austria, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.

Another fact highlights the quality of the platform: As Peter Gall, the former project manager for the Leopard 2 with the German Federal Office for Defence Technology and Procurement (BWB) announced, the first Leopard 2 that was commissioned in October 1979 by the German Army has been identified; it is now in service with the Greek Army. And the manufacturing of the Leopard 2 has still not ended, with the delivery of the last vehicles to Greece currently in progress. Furthermore, the Leopard 2 has proven its worth with KFOR in Kosovo and in the ongoing ISAF military operation. Particularly in the latter, it sees itself encountered with a new scenario and new threats. Nevertheless, according to Canada and Denmark, which have deployed the Leopard 2 to Afghanistan, the tank is fully up to the task and provides the required show of force and fire power, even in this asymmetric combat environment which it originally had not been designed for.


A Long History of Evolution

The history of the Leopard 2 reaches back far beyond 24 October 1979 when the first vehicle was handed over to the German Army. Its birth is based on the “Kampfpanzer 70” development project (KPz 70, engl.: MBT 70), which began in 1963 as part of the framework of a Memorandum of Understanding by the US and Germany in an joint effort to replace their ageing tanks (in the US the M60 and in Germany the M48 Patton II). The US company General Motors and the German DEG (uniting KMW, Herschel, MTU and many more German companies) were to develop a platform that would provide a “half-generation change” and a logistics as well as a tactical standardisation for both armies.

However, requirements such as firing on the move and hitting a moving target, a hybrid gun, automatic loading of the gun, an independent secondary 20mm gun, as well as the three-man crew – only to name a few of the key requirements of which some were still too far ahead of their time – were found to be too challenging and lead, in 1969, to the decision of the US and of Germany to individually develop their own platform, resulting in the Abrams M1 and the Leopard 2. As an upgrade of the Leopard 1 was dismissed, development of the new tank began in 1970 based upon the experience drawn for the KPz 70 project. After a number of trials with the first prototypes, the Leopard 2 AV was created, which at least, externally, was already difficult to distinguish from the first series models.

In particular, combat evaluations from the Yom Kippur War in 1973 lead to a significant improvement in the tank’s armour, including the hull as well as the turret. A first physical comparison of the Leopard 2 (AV) and the Abrams (XM1) was carried out in 1978 at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland.

After further development steps brought the installation of the 120mm smoothbore gun and of a laser range finder, the prime contractor Krauss-Maffei Wegmann received an order in 1977 for the delivery of 1,800 Leopard 2’s and has since become one of the most successful products for the German company.


Adapting to a New Era

Yet, the Leopard 2 was a result of the requirements of the Cold War era and entered service in this critical period of history. At the end of this era, many Western armies doubted the further need for main battle tanks that were designed to win large-scale symmetric battles. There was no experience with whether a main battle tank could be of any use in peace-keeping and stabilisation operations which became more probable and more frequent. Finally, the first military operation which the Leopard 2 was deployed was the peace-keeping mission of the KFOR. 28 Leopard 2A5’s supported German troops in Kosovo. Similar to the tense political environment in Berlin during the Cold War, main battle tanks – providing a so-called show of force - proved to be a valuable deterrent asset, keeping insurgents or opponents at a distance, rather than provoking any attacks in a reaction to the military presence.

The next challenge of an even more complex nature has been, and still is, the ISAF operation in Afghanistan. Besides Denmark's Leopard 2A5DK, 19 Leopard 2A6M’s are operated by Canada in this demanding terrain and special conditions of the Central Asian country. The military leadership, as well as the Ministry of Defence, has repeatedly expressed their satisfaction with this weapon system. Particularly the statement by Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay of early 2009 underlines Canada’s recognition of the Leopard 2: "Those Leopard tanks are lifesavers. They are game changers and we want to get those tanks where they can be used to save lives and to further the aims of the mission,” the Minister said.

It is the first deployment in which the Leopard 2 has been exposed to several attacks, particularly with improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Major André Picard of the Canadian Equipment Management Ram for Heavy Armoured Vehicles told defpro.com at the KMW celebration that the Leopards had suffered an unnamed number of IED hits and were involved in several attacks by insurgents. Picard did not confirm any attacks with rocket propelled grenades (RPGs), which have become one of the major threats in the combat zones of Afghanistan. However, he emphasised that troops are very satisfied with the tank and its show of force and fire power has significantly helped to suppress attacks. Picard confirmed that Canada would keep the Leopard 2 in the Afghan theatre as long as the mission continues.


The latest development for today's challenges

Krauss-Maffei Wegmann has reacted to the altered operation scenarios and developed, on its own, the Leopard 2 PSO (Peace and Security Operations) which is to meet requirements from asymmetric mission profiles and military operations in urban terrain (MOUT). The PSO currently undergoes trials at the Bundeswehr Technical Center for Automotive and Armored Vehicles (WTD 41) in Trier, Germany.

An enhanced armour protection against mines, as well as a generally increased protection, is to diminish the tanks vulnerability in these challenging scenarios. However, KMW continues to rely on improved passive armour as, according to a company official, reactive and active armour for the time being are not ready to be introduced with this system.

The PSO version is equipped with a FLW 200 remote weapon station. As the KMW official stated, this secondary weapon station, which can be operated from within the vehicle, again makes the Leopard 2 an entirely protected system, as was the intent of its original design. KMW further expressed its hope that the user nations, including the Bundeswehr, may undertake a joint effort to introduce this weapon system with their Leopard 2 tanks now in service.

With all the upgrades that were implemented to the Leopard 2 throughout these 30 years of active duty with many armed forces, the basic platform has remained the same. Changes have generally been brought about by the replacement or addition of the subsystems. This again proves the value of the original concept. KMW is convinced that the Leopard 2 is a significant security-political and industry-political contribution. In this context the company official expressed KMW’s wish that offset requirements – in terms of content and money – should be oriented much stronger at the value of this special contribution.


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By Nicolas von Kospoth, Managing Editor