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The Leopard 2 is a main battle tank developed by Germany that has become one of the most widely used and respected tank designs in the world. It matters because it represents a significant achievement in military engineering and has played an important role in modern armed forces across multiple countries.
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The Leopard 2 is a third generation German main battle tank (MBT). Developed by Krauss-Maffei in the 1970s, the tank entered service in 1979 and replaced the earlier Leopard 1 as the main battle tank of the West German army. Various iterations of the Leopard 2 continue to be operated by the armed forces of Germany, as well as 13 other European countries, and several non-European countries, including Canada, Chile, Indonesia, and Singapore. Some operating countries have licensed the Leopard 2 design for local production and domestic development.
There are two main development tranches of the Leopard 2. The first encompasses tanks produced up to the Leopard 2A4 standard and are characterised by their vertically faced turret armour. The second tranche, from Leopard 2A5 onwards, has an angled, arrow-shaped, turret appliqué armour, together with other improvements. The main armament of all Leopard 2 tanks is a smoothbore 120 mm cannon made by Rheinmetall. This is operated with a digital fire control system, laser rangefinder, and advanced night vision and sighting equipment. The tank is powered by a V12 twin-turbo diesel engine made by MTU Friedrichshafen.
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Accuracy disputes from January 2018Cold War tanks of GermanyHarv and Sfn no-target errorsMain battle tanks of GermanyMain battle tanks of PolandMain battle tanks of SlovakiaMain battle tanks of SpainMain battle tanks of SwedenMain battle tanks of the Cold WarMain battle tanks of UkraineMilitary vehicles introduced in the 1970s