Quote:
Originally Posted by mapuc
How much better than T-72 are these Leopard 1A5 ?
Does this mean that around summertime Ukraine will have MBT from USA, UK, EU And here I'm thinking Abrams, Challenges, Leopard 1 & 2 and some other ?
Markus
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The Leopard-1 dominated the T-55 and T-62. It was faster (forward and reverse), more agile, offered better optics and better situational awareness, it was designed to fit into the principle of German "Beweglichkeit" (mobility, agility), it outclassed the M-60, to, which was
much slower. The German tank drove circles at will around the other tanks of its time.
The Sovjets build the T-72 to kill the Leopard-1. The western reaction to the T-72 was first shock, then developing the Leopard-2 and Abrams. The two latter stem from a shared joint venture between the US and Germany for a joint battle tank that later collapsed. Thats why both tanks are very comparable in protection and firepower. The American tank is more complicated to use and maintain, because the German built their tank for a conscript army where it was expected soldiers would have less time to learn and collect experience with maintaining and operating the tank. Thats why servicing the Leopard-2 is easier and is done faster than on the Abrams, its indeed easier toi handle. In earlier versions of both tanks, the German tanks also had better optics, and more of them, plus additional optics for the commander that the Abrams of that time did not have. The German tank cannon however proved to be superior to both the American and British designs, so both the later Challengers and Abrams all got equipped with the tank gun by Rheinmetall. The Abrams does some things slightly better than the Leopard-2, some things worse. The German tank usually is described as the best balanced general all-around design. Tank design is always a compromise between firepower, armour, and agility - balancing these three did not lead to best-of-class marks in any any of these for the Leopard-2, but to the best compromise between all three. That is what is meant when they say the Leopard-2 is the "best tank in the world". It means its the best compromise in balancing these three factors. The one thing where the Leopard-2 probably really leads them all, is ergonomics. The Leclerc may be even better in this regard, but it is said to be an electronic primadonna which is prone to system malfunctions and breakdowns. It seesm to be not as reliable as one would want to have it in war.
The Leopard-1 was the most agile tank of its time, and offered also probably the best optics and situational awareness of tanks of its time (compared to it, T-72 of that era were blind and deaf). Agility was seen as paramount, because ATGMs still played no big role, so agility was rated higher than armour. The Leopard-1 by today'S standard would be not more than a "medium" tank, it is indeed quite lightly armoured now, by today's standards.
Head on, tank-on-tank, the Leopard looses against the T-72. The T-72 has much more Boom! in its cannon. Worse, many of the T-72 in the Russian inventory are upgraded B3 versions, which does not make them great tanks but significantly better tanks than the original ones from 30, 40 years ago, some fo them also have replaced optics, and modern French thermals, new fire control systems. The basic design flaw however - the all-turrets-fly-high (tm) ammo storage - remain. I would not bet that a Leopard-1 can easily defeat the armour of these new T-72, however.
But tank-on-tank does not happen often in the ukraine war so far, most tanks got killed by ambushes in the urban areas, by flank shots with RPG/PZF style weapons, ATGMs, and - most importantly - at very short combat distances. The latter nullifies any tactical advantage of thick armour against kionetic ammunitoon like KE (German), SABOT (US). And I am quite certain the Leo-1 will not be used as tank hunter, like not the French AMX-10, which also has a small callibre cannon also and is lightly armoured. those armies who operated Leopard-1s until the end often used them for recce. The Ukranians will also use them as mobile artillery moving embedded in the infantry, I assume. They must avoid to confront T-72s directly. Leopard-1s and Leopard-2s are lightyears apart in firepower and protection level.