Breaking news
Nexter of France and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann of Germany could developed new Leopard 3 tank 2405153.
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Defence & Security News - Germany
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| Nexter of France and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann of Germany could developed new Leopard 3 tank. | |||
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The German Defense Ministry has announced its plans for the "Leopard 3" to replace its main battle tank, the Leopard 2. The main reason for the modernization is believed to be the Leopard 2 service life, which is set to expire by 2030.
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 The Leopard 2A7 is the latest generation of Leopard 2 family MBT (Main Battle Tank) |
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The German media, however, suggest that the real reason is the recently-presented analysis by Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND) on Russia’s reinforced combat strength and its recently showcased T-14 Armata tanks, which were presented during the country's Victory Parade in Moscow on May 9.
According to Deutsche Welle, the manufacturer of the current Leopard 2, Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, is scheduled to fuse with the French firm Nexter Systems over the course of this year. This has prompted the German media to report that the new Franco-German firm, with more than 6,000 staff and a combined turnover of around 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion), could be a strong candidate to win the contract to develop a new battle tank for the German Bundeswehr. "Technologies and concepts will be investigated between 2015 and 2018 in joint studies also involving German industry," Markus Grübel, a deputy minister in the German Defense Ministry told his parliamentary colleagues. He cited the Leopard 2's long years of service as the reason that a new battle tank was required. The Leopard 2's 50-year service life is set to expire in 2030. The tank, which came into service in 1979, was conceived as part of a plan for Cold War-era land defense. Germany commissioned more than 2,000 of them at the peak of the arms race of the early 1980s. Currently, however, only about 240 are in active service; but last month, citing the security situation in Ukraine, Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen annnounced plans to reactivate 100 Leopard 2 tanks. In November of last year, von der Leyen also announced a move to add more than 100 aditional "Boxer" armored personnel carriers to the Bundeswehr's ranks. In December 2014, 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 at their Munich facility. 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. The Leopard 2A7 has a number of survivability enhancements including the latest generation passive armour and belly armour providing protection against mines and improvised explosive devices. It is also fitted for but not with additional passive side protection armour. The Leopard 2A7 retains the Rheinmetall 120 mm L/55 smooth bore gun and in addition to firing the latest generation Rheinmetall 120 mm Armour Piercing Fin Stabilised Discarding Sabot - Tracer (APFSDS-T) DM63 round and can also fire the latest programmable Rheinmetall DM12 high-explosive round. |
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