French defense company KNDS, a joint venture between Nexter from France and KMW from Germany, has unveiled the next generation main battle tank Leopard 2A-RC3.0, which I’ll refer to as the future version of Leopard 2. This version represents a significant improvement of the Leopard 2, featuring automatic loading and unmanned turret design with a crew reduced to three members.
Leopard 2 is the most widely deployed main battle tank in Europe, often referred to as the European tank. Despite the increasing threats from drones and anti-tank missiles, the role of tanks is diminishing. However, in the mostly flat terrains of Europe, particularly in Western and Eastern European countries, main battle tanks remain crucial. The future tanks need to enhance their abilities to counter drones and anti-tank ammunition, which is a key reason for KNDS to introduce the new version of Leopard 2.
As a joint venture between France and Germany, KNDS not only developed the future models of Leopard 2 but also initiated the “European Major Ground Combat Systems” research project within NATO for unified logistics, integration needs, and shared research and development costs. The result of this project is the Enhanced Main Battle Tank (EMBT). EMBT features an unmanned turret with a 140mm smoothbore gun that can be exchanged for other caliber guns. It is equipped with a 30mm chain gun remote weapon station primarily used for air defense operations against drone attacks.
Another German defense giant, Rheinmetall Group, has developed the successor to Leopard 2 known as the KF51 Black Panther tank. Countries like Hungary, Italy, and Ukraine have shown interest in the KF51 but have yet to place confirmed orders.
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