Tank deliveries: The main battle tanks Leopard, Abrams and Challenger

Tank deliveries: The main battle tanks Leopard, Abrams and Challenger

Several states want to send battle tanks to Ukraine. The vehicles at a glance:

With the planned delivery of main battle tanks, Ukraine will be provided with the best armored vehicles for the battlefield. These include the German Leopard 2, the US model M1 Abrams and the British Challenger 2. Military experts see the vehicles as a balance of protection, mobility and firepower.

leopard 2

The Bundeswehr has been using the main battle tank in various variants since 1979. Armed with a 120 millimeter cannon, four soldiers on board the latest model can fight targets at a distance of up to 5000 meters. Over the years, the tracked vehicles of the armaments company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann received increasingly thick armor. The current A7V series, weighing around 64 tons, reaches a top speed of 63 kilometers per hour with 1500 hp diesel engines.

The German army is to receive a total of 104 Leopard 2 A7Vs over the next three years. Older models are gradually being phased out or given to other countries. According to the annual report “Military Balance 2022” by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Germany has more than 300 Leopard 2 tanks of different series.

M1 Abrams

The US main battle tank is very similar to the Leopard 2. The M1 Abrams has been available in three main variants since 1980. A 120 mm gun has been on board since the M1A1 model. The four occupants are protected from attacks by steel armor. With 1500 hp, the Abrams, which weighs up to 74 tons depending on the model, reaches a top speed of almost 68 kilometers per hour. Unlike the Leopard 2, the M1 Abrams is powered by a kerosene gas turbine.

According to “Military Balance”, the United States owns more than 6,000 pieces of various designs – a little more than half of them are stored units.

challenger 2

The Challenger 2 has been in service with the British Army since 1998. With a top speed of 59 kilometers per hour on the road and 40 kilometers per hour off-road, the main battle tank is designed to destroy enemy tanks with its 120-millimeter gun. The crew of four controls the diesel-powered vehicle with a combat weight of 75 tons.

According to “Military Balance”, Great Britain has 227 Challenger 2. The Defense Committee in the British Parliament will also give this number in 2021. However, the MPs also note that the vehicle has not experienced any significant increases in performance since its introduction and is therefore technically somewhat behind the Leopard 2 and M1 Abrams. The successor model Challenger 3 is now being developed, and almost 150 units are to be integrated into the British arsenal by 2040.

Source: Stern

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