Leopard 2
The Leopard 2 is a main battle tank developed by Krauss-Maffei in the 1970s for the West German Army. The tank first entered service in 1979 and succeeded the earlier Leopard 1 as the main battle tank of the German Army. It is armed with a 120 mm smoothbore cannon, and is powered by a V-12 twin-turbo diesel engine. Various versions have served in the armed forces of Germany and 12 other European countries, as well as several non-European nations, including Canada, Chile, Indonesia, Singapore, and Turkey. The Leopard 2 was used in Kosovo with the German Army, and has seen action in Afghanistan with the Dutch, Danish and Canadian contributions to the International Security Assistance Force, as well as seeing action in Syria with the Turkish Armed Forces.

There are two main development batches of the tank: the original models up to Leopard 2A4, which have vertically faced turret armour, and the improved batch, namely the Leopard 2A5 and newer versions, which have angled arrow-shaped turret appliqué armour together with other improvements. All models feature digital fire control systems with laser rangefinders, a fully stabilised main gun and coaxial machine gun, and advanced night vision and sighting equipment (first vehicles used a low-light level TV system or LLLTV; thermal imaging was introduced later on). The tank has the ability to engage moving targets while moving over rough terrain.
Q920182
main battle tank
Concept
Q646220
Krauss-Maffei
ORG
Q56010
West German Army
ORG
Q153440
Leopard 1
MISC
Q11322507
German Army
ORG
Q16
Canada
LOC
Q298
Chile
LOC
Q252
Indonesia
LOC
Q334
Singapore
Concept
Q43
Turkey
LOC
Q889
Afghanistan
LOC
Q155654
International Security Assistance Force
MEDIA
Q18208094
action in Syria
MEDIA
Q501053
Turkish Armed Forces
ORG
None
turret
UNK
None
appliqué armour
UNK
Q1568940
fire control system
Concept
Q1426632
laser rangefinder
Concept
Q12800
machine gun
Concept
Q5645970
low-light level TV
Concept
Q581851
thermal imaging
Concept
Q151968
Leopard 2
MISC
Q151968
Leopard 2
MISC
Q151968
Leopard 2
MISC
Q151968
Leopard 2
MISC
1970-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1970
DATE
1979-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1979
DATE
+2^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
2
NUMBER
+1^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
1
NUMBER
-12^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
-12
NUMBER
+12^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
12
NUMBER
+2^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
2
NUMBER
+2^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
2
NUMBER
+4^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
4
NUMBER
+2^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
2
NUMBER
+5^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
5
NUMBER
subclass of
manufacturer
follows
item operated
service entry