title: Leopard 2

text: Due to the design and production of the Leopard 2AV taking more time than expected, the shipment to the US and the US evaluation was delayed. It was not possible to test the Leopard 2AV before 1 September 1976. Despite the German wish that the Leopard 2AV and the XM1 prototypes would be evaluated at the same time, the US Army decided not to wait for the Leopard 2AV and tested the XM1 prototypes from Chrysler and General Motors beforehand.


title: Leopard 2

text: Two new prototype hulls and three turrets were shipped to the US: PT20 mounting a 105 mm rifled L7 gun and a Hughes fire control system, PT19 with the same fire control system but able to swap out the gun for the 120 mm Rheinmetall smoothbore gun, and the PT21 fitted with the Krupp Atlas Elektronik EMES-13 fire control system and the 120 mm Rheinmetall gun. The Leopard 2AV fully met the US requirements. A study made by the American FMC Corporation showed that it was possible to produce the Leopard 2AV under licence in America without exceeding the cost limits set by the US Army. Before the trials were finished, it was decided that instead of the US Army possibly adopting the Leopard 2AV, the focus was shifted to the possibilities of common components between the two tanks. FMC, after having acquired the licenses for the production of the Leopard 2AV, decided not to submit a technical proposal, as they saw little to no chance for the US Army adopting a vehicle not developed in the US.


title: Leopard 2

text: The US Army evaluation showed that on the XM1 a larger portion of the tank's surface was covered by special armour than on the Leopard 2AV. Differences in armour protection were attributed to the different perceptions on the expected threats and the haste in which the Leopard 2AV was designed to accommodate special armour. On mobility trials the Leopard 2AV performed equal to better than the XM1 prototypes. The AGT-1500 gas turbine proved to consume about 50% more fuel and the Diehl tracks had a higher endurance, while the tracks used on the XM1 prototypes failed to meet the Army's requirements. The heat signature of the MTU diesel engine was much lower. The fire control system and the sights of the Leopard 2 were considered to be better and the 120 mm gun proved to be superior. The projected production costs for one XM1 tank were $728,000 in 1976, the costs for one Leopard 2AV were $56,000 higher.


title: Leopard 2

text: After the American evaluation of the Leopard 2AV and the US Army's decision to opt for the XM1 Abrams, both American and German sources blamed the other side. According to American literature, it was discovered that the Leopard 2AV prototype used for mobility trials was underweight.


title: Leopard 2

text: In Germany, the test conditions were criticised for being unrealistic and favouring the XM1. Instead of using actual performance data, the calculated hypothetical acceleration was used. The XM1 was found to have a slightly higher rate of fire despite having internal layouts similar to the Leopard 2AV, because the XM1 prototypes were manned by professional crews, while the Leopard 2AV had to be manned by conscripts in order to prove that the Leopard 2AV was not too complicated. Firing on the move was demonstrated on flat tracks, which nullified the better stabilization systems of the Leopard 2AV.


title: Leopard 2

text: The decision to put the Leopard 2 tank in production for the German army was made after a study was undertaken, which showed that adopting the Leopard 2 model would result in a greater combat potential of the German army than producing more Leopard 1A4 tanks or developing an improved version of the Leopard 1A4 with 105/120 mm smoothbore gun, improved armour protection, a new fire control system and a or engine. Various changes were applied to the Leopard 2 design before the series production started in 1979. The engine, transmission and suspension were slightly modified and improved. The ballistic protection of turret and hull was improved and weak spots were eliminated.


title: Leopard 2

text: The turret bustle containing the ready ammunition racks and the hydraulic systems was separated from the crew compartment and fitted with blow-out panels. The development of several new components introduced to the Leopard 2 during the Leopard 2AV development and after the US testing was completed. For the series version the Hughes-designed laser rangefinder made with US Common Modules was chosen over the passive EMES-13 rangefinder. The EMES-13 system was considered to be the superior solution, but the Hughes system was cheaper and fully developed.


title: Leopard 2

text: The German company Krupp-Atlas-Elektronik acquired the licence of the Hughes design and modified it to meet the needs of the German army. The modified rangefinder received the designation EMES-15. The installation of the US Honeywell AGT1500 in the Leopard 2 was tested by MaK. The AGT-1500 was borrowed from the United States and required deep modifications of the Leopard 2's chassis. However, driving tests at the WTD 41 revealed a number of drawbacks such as high fuel consumption and the lacking performance of the transmission including the brakes. This project was thus terminated.


title: Leopard 2

text: In January 1977 Germany ordered a small pre-series of three hulls and two turrets which were delivered in 1978. These vehicles had increased armour protection on the front of the hull. One of the hulls was fitted with the earlier turret T21 and was used by the German army school in Munster for troop trials until 1979. In September 1977, 1,800 Leopard 2 tanks were ordered, to be produced in five batches. The main contractor was Krauss-Maffei, but Maschinenbau Kiel (MaK) was awarded a contract for producing 45% of the tanks. The first batch consisted of 380 tanks. The delivery of six tanks was scheduled for 1979, 114 for 1980, 180 for 1981 and 300 tanks each following year.


title: Leopard 2

text: The first series-production tank was delivered on 25 October 1979. By 1982, all of the first batch of 380 Leopard 2 tanks had been completed. 209 were built by Krauss-Maffei (chassis no. 10001 to 10210) and 171 by MaK (chassis no. 20001 to 20172). The first production tanks were fitted with the PzB-200 image intensifier due to production shortages of the new thermal night-sight system, which was later retrofitted to the earlier models. After the original five batches, three further batches of Leopard 2 tanks were ordered, increasing the amount of Leopard 2 tanks ordered by Germany to a total of 2,125. The sixth batch was ordered in June 1987 and consisted of 150 tanks, which were produced between January 1988 and May 1989. The seventh batch of 100 tanks was produced between May 1988 and April 1990. The last batch for the German army totalling 75 tanks was produced from January 1991 to March 1992.


title: Leopard 2

text: While previous models only varied in detail, the Leopard 2A4 introduced a digital ballistic computer and an improved fire extinguishing system. Starting within the sixth batch tanks were fitted with an improved armour array and new side skirts. In 1984 the German military procurement agency stated a number of requirements for a future Leopard 2 upgrade. In 1989, the "Kampfwertsteigerung" (combat potential increasement) programme was initiated in Germany with the delivery of first prototypes. The official military requirements were published in March 1990.


title: Leopard 2

text: The KWS programme was projected to consist of three stages. The first stage of the KWS programme replaced the Rheinmetall 120 mm L/44 gun barrel and the corresponding gun mount with a longer barrelled and more lethal L/55 version. This stage was adopted in form of 225 Leopard 2A6 tanks starting in 2001 and a lasting to 2005. The KWS stage 2 focused on improvements of armour protection and survivability, it was adopted in form of the Leopard 2A5 starting in 1995. The base armour of the tank was exchanged and additional armour modules were installed at the turret. A first batch of 225 Leopard 2 tanks was upgraded to Leopard 2A5 configuration between 1995 and 1998, a second batch of 125 followed 1999 to 2002.


title: Leopard 2

text: In the third stage of KWS was the planned replacement of the Leopard 2 turret by a new turret fitted with a 140 mm NPzK tank gun, an autoloader and the IFIS battlefield management system. The ballistic protection at the hull was to be improved. Originally a total requirement for 650 Leopard 2 tanks with KWS 3 was projected. It was never finalised, but the 140 mm NPzK tank gun was tested on an older prototype. In 1995 it was decided to cancel due to changes in the political environment. The funds were redirected to the Neue Gepanzerte Plattformen (New Armored Platforms) project of the German army. The Leopard 2A6M was developed with an enhanced mine-protection kit providing protection against mines that can detonate below the hull (like mines with bending wire trigger) and Explosively formed penetrator mines. The weight of the Leopard 2A6M is 62.5 tonnes.


title: Leopard 2

text: The latest version of the tank is the Leopard 2A7, which entered service in a small initial batch of 20 tanks in 2014. Already before the first Leopard 2A7 tank was handed over to the German Army, plans for future upgrades were already made. At this time an ""extensive"" increase in combat value while retaining the original mobility of the Leopard 2 was planned. The optics of the tank also will be improved.


title: Leopard 2

text: In April 2015, Welt am Sonntag claimed that tungsten (wolfram) rounds used in Leopard 2 cannot penetrate the Russian T-90 or the modernized version of the T-80. They also stated that the German military will develop a new improved round, but it will be exclusively developed for the Leopard 2A7.


title: Leopard 2

text: In 2015 Rheinmetall disclosed that it was developing a new 130 mm smoothbore gun for the Leopard 2 tank and its successor. This gun will offer a 50% increase in performance and penetration. Marketing for the new gun was slated to begin in 2016.


title: Leopard 2

text: The Leopard 2 first entered service in 1979, and its service life is anticipated to end around 2030. In May 2015, the German Ministry of Defence announced plans to develop a tank jointly with France as a successor to both the Leopard 2 and Leclerc tanks. Technologies and concepts will be investigated to determine what capabilities are needed in a future tank. Deployment of the new tank, titled Main Ground Combat System (MGCS), will be preceded by incremental upgrades to the Leopard 2, including a new digital turret core system and situational awareness system and an Active Protection System (APS).


title: Leopard 2

text: A short-term lethality increase will come from a higher pressure 120 mm gun firing new ammunition, expected to deliver 20 percent better performance than the L/55. Mid-term efforts will focus on a Rheinmetall 130 mm cannon concept offering 50 percent better armour penetration. With the Russian T-14 Armata being equipped with the Afghanit, an Active Protection System designed to mitigate the effectiveness of ATGM, more importance is being placed on direct fire weapons.


title: Leopard 2

text: Germany has fielded about 2,125 Leopard 2 main battle tanks in various versions, but most of the tanks were sold following the German reunification. Other countries bought newly or locally built tanks.


title: Leopard 2

text: The Netherlands ordered 445 Leopard 2 tanks on 2 March 1979, after examining the results of the Leopard 2AV in the United States. It became the first export customer of the Leopard 2 and the vehicles were delivered between July 1981 and July 1986.


title: Leopard 2

text: The Swiss army decided to purchase Leopard 2 tanks over the M1A1 Abrams after trialling both tanks between August 1981 and June 1982. The Swiss decision was made in August 1983 and the funding was approved by the government in 1984. Thirty-five of the tanks were delivered by Kraus-Maffei by June 1987. Eidgenössische Konstruktionswerkstätte Thun started license production of 345 additional vehicles in December 1987.


title: Leopard 2

text: The Leopard 2 became very popular in the 1990s, when the shrinking German army offered many of its redundant Leopard 2s at a reduced price. It became successful enough in Europe that the manufacturer started calling it the "Euro Leopard", despite France, Britain, and Italy all operating their own MBTs. With further non-European orders, the name ""Global-Leopard"" is now used instead.


title: Leopard 2

text: After investigating the option of a locally developed replacement for the Strv 103 tank, Sweden decided to buy a foreign tank model. The Leopard 2 Improved (Leopard 2A5 prototype) won the competition against the M1A2 Abrams and the French Leclerc. After intensive tests from January 1994 to June 1994, the Swedish military opted for the Leopard 2. The Swedish military also evaluated the Soviet T-80U tank, but separately from the other tanks. The Swedish military found that the Leopard 2 Improved met their military demands by 90%. The M1A2 met the Swedish requirements by 86%, whereas the Leclerc met 63%. Sweden contracted in June 1994 the production of 120 Stridsvagn 122 (Swedish Leopard 2A5 subvariant) with many components being made locally. The first Stridsvagn 122 was delivered in December 1996. Sweden leased and later bought a total of 160 Leopard 2A4 tanks in 1994 and 1995. The first vehicle was delivered in February 1994.


title: Leopard 2

text: Denmark bought 51 ex-German Leopard 2A4 tanks after the Danish military school, the Haerens Kampskole, recommended to base the adoption of a new tank on the Swedish army trials. The tanks were delivered in 1997, but the upgrade to Leopard 2A5 level was already decided. In 2004 the Danish army bought another 18 ex-German Leopard 2 tanks.


title: Leopard 2

text: In 1998, Greece held a competition to determine the main battle tank for the Hellenic army. The Leopard 2 Improved managed to outperform the Challenger 2E, Leclerc, M1A2 Abrams, T-80U and T-84 and was chosen by the Greek officials. In March 2003 Greece ordered 170 Leopard 2 tanks of which 140 were locally assembled. Greece also bought 183 Leopard 2A4 and 150 Leopard 1 tanks.


title: Leopard 2

text: Spain initially leased 109 Leopard 2A4 tanks, after Krauss-Maffei withdrew from the Lince development, a special lighter version of the Leopard 2 developed together with Santa Bárbara Sistemas. Before the end of the Lince tank, Spain already had rejected the M1A1 Abrams and the Vickers Valiant. After deciding to purchase the leased tanks, Santa Bárbara Sistemas acquired the licence to locally produce 219 Leopard 2A6 tanks for the Spanish army.


title: Leopard 2

text: Poland received 128 Leopard 2A4 tanks from German army stocks in 2002. In 2013 Poland ordered a further 119 ex-German Leopard 2s. Finland bought 124 used Leopard 2A4 tanks and six armoured bridge-layer Leopard 2L tanks from Germany in 2002 and 2003. The tanks served as replacement for the old Soviet-made T-55 and T-72M1. The Netherlands resold 114 of their tanks (and one turret) to Austria, 80 to Canada in 2007, 52 tanks to Norway, 37 to Portugal and 100 to Finland.


title: Leopard 2

text: In 2005, Turkey ordered 298 Leopard 2 tanks from German army stocks. The Leopard 2 was chosen in 2001 after successfully competing one year earlier in the Turkish army trials against the T-84 Yatagan, Leclerc and a version of the M1A2 Abrams fitted with a German MTU diesel engine. Turkey wanted to buy 1,000 Leopard 2 tanks in 1999, but the German government rejected the deal.


title: Leopard 2

text: Singapore bought 96 Leopard 2 tanks from Germany in 2006. Chile bought 172 ex-German Leopard 2A4 tanks and 273 Marder 1A3 IFVs in 2007.


title: Leopard 2

text: Indonesia ordered 103 Leopard 2 tanks and 42 Marder 1A3 IFVs in 2013. At first the export of heavy weapons to Indonesia was not allowed by the German government, due to the questionable human rights record of Indonesia. 61 of the 103 Leopard 2 tanks will be upgraded by Rheinmetall to the Leopard 2RI standard, based on Rheinmetall's "Revolution" modular upgrade concept.


title: Leopard 2

text: Qatar ordered 62 Leopard 2A7 tanks and 24 Panzerhaubitze 2000s in 2013. The delivery of the tanks started in late 2015 and the first tanks were displayed on a military parade in December 2015.


title: Leopard 2

text: Saudi Arabia has shown interest in buying the Leopard 2 since the 1980s. Due to political circumstances and the questionable situation of human rights in Saudi Arabia, no deal was made. Saudi Arabia renewed its intention of buying Leopard 2 tanks in 2011. While earlier news reports suggested an interest in buying about 200 tanks, later reports revealed an increased order of 600 to 800 tanks. The German government at first approved the deal, but cancelled it later due to human rights concerns and Saudi Arabia's military intervention in the 2011 Bahraini uprising.


title: Leopard 2

text: The Leopard 2 was tested by the United Kingdom. In 1989 the Leopard 2 was evaluated as a possible replacement for the Challenger 1 tank. Ultimately the British armed forces decided to adopt the locally made Challenger 2.


title: Leopard 2

text: The Australian Army evaluated ex-Swiss Army Leopard 2s as a replacement for its Leopard 1AS tanks in 2003, but selected the M1A1 AIM instead due to easier logistics. More modern versions of the Leopard 2 or M1 Abrams, such as the Leopard 2A6 were not considered due to their higher price.


title: Leopard 2

text: In December 2018, Hungary placed an order for 44 Leopard 2A7+s and 12 second-hand 2A4s. The order coincided with the procurement of 24 Panzerhaubitze 2000, and is expected to replace Hungary's current fleet of T-72 tanks "no sooner than 2020".


title: Leopard 2

text: Starting on 12 June 1999, 28 Leopard 2A5 tanks were deployed by the German Army as part of the Kosovo Force (KFOR) to Kosovo. The vehicles of Panzerbataillon 33 and 214, were sent from Macedonia to Prizren. They were used for patrols, protecting checkpoints and bases as well as part of the show of force. On 13 June 1999, two members of the Serbian paramilitary started firing from inside a Fiat 125p car at one of the checkpoints in Prizren and both were killed by return fire. A Leopard 2A5 was located at the checkpoint, but it could not participate in the fighting as it was only partially crewed.


title: Leopard 2

text: On 26 June 1999, a Leopard 2A5 fired four warning shots above the town of Orahovac. From late 2000 to early 2001, the tanks were replaced by the Leopard 2A4 model. Leopard 2A4s were deployed to Macedonia during 2001 as part of the NATO intervention. The tanks served to protect Bundeswehr logistic sites in Macedonia. Until their return in 2004, the Leopard 2 tanks were stationed at the Austrian-Swiss camp "Casablanca".


title: Leopard 2

text: The Dutch contingent in Bosnia-Hercegovina operated Leopard 2 tanks. Dutch Leopard 2A4s and Leopard 2A5s at the NLD bases at Bugojno, Novi Travnik, Sisava, Knezevo, Maslovare and Suica.


title: Leopard 2

text: In October 2003, Canada was planning to replace its Leopard C2s with wheeled Stryker Mobile Gun Systems. However, operational experience in Afghanistan and in particular during Operation Medusa, convinced the Canadian military of the usefulness of maintaining a tank fleet. Leopard C2s were deployed to Kandahar in December 2006, but they were by then almost 30 years old, and were nearing the end of their operational life. The Canadian government decided to borrow 20 Leopard 2A6s and three armoured recovery vehicles from Germany for rapid deployment to Afghanistan. In late August 2007, the first Leopard 2s were airlifted into Afghanistan to equip Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians).


title: Leopard 2

text: In an assault on 2 November 2007, a Leopard 2A6M hit an Improvised explosive device (IED) and survived without casualties: "My crew stumbled upon an IED (improvised explosive device) and made history as the first (crew) to test the (Leopard 2A6) M-packet. It worked as it should." wrote a Canadian officer in an email to German defence officials. Canadian Chief of the Defence Staff General Rick Hillier denied reports that a Leopard 2 tank that was struck by an IED was a write-off, insisting that the tank has been repaired and is once again in use. "The Taliban have been engaged with some of the new Leopard 2 tanks in several ambushes" and that as a result the Taliban "learned some very harsh lessons" and lost the battle in question "very quickly and very violently."


title: Leopard 2

text: In October 2007, Denmark deployed Leopard 2A5 DKs in support of operations in southern Afghanistan. The Danish tank unit, drawn from the first battalion of the "Jydske Dragonregiment" (Jutland Dragoons Regiment), was equipped with three tanks and one M113 Armored Personnel Carrier, with an armoured recovery vehicle and another tank kept in reserve. The Danish version of the Leopard 2A5 is fitted with Swedish-made Barracuda camouflage mats, that limit the absorption of solar heat, thus reducing infrared signature and interior temperature. It also has a conventional driver's seat bolted on the floor of the tank, whereas in the Canadian 2A6M (as part of the mine-protection package) the driver's seat has been replaced by a "Dynamic Safety Seat", which is a parachute-harness like arrangement that the driver wears around his hip. This way, the driver does not have any contact with the hull except on the pedals and is out of the shockwave area of exploding land mines or IEDs.


title: Leopard 2

text: In January 2008, Danish tanks halted a flanking manoeuvre by Taliban forces near the Helmand River by providing gunfire in support of Danish and British infantry from elevated positions. On 26 February 2008, a Danish Leopard 2 was hit by an explosive device, damaging one track. No one was injured and the tank returned to camp on its own for repairs. The first fatality suffered by a crew operating a Leopard 2 happened on 25 July 2008. A Danish Leopard 2A5 hit an IED in Helmand Province. The vehicle was able to continue before it halted. Three members of the four-man crew were able to escape even though wounded, but the driver was stuck inside. On site treatment by Danish medics could not save him. The vehicle was towed to Forward operating base (FOB) Attal and then later to FOB Armadillo for investigation and possible redeployment. During the same contact with Taliban forces, a second tank was caught in an explosion but none of the crew were wounded.


title: Leopard 2

text: Beginning on 7 December 2008, Leopard 2 tanks took part in Operation Red Dagger, firing 31 rounds in support of Coalition troops as they recaptured Nad Ali District. A press release from the British Ministry of Defence praised the tank's fire accuracy and mobility, claiming the Leopard 2 was a decisive factor in the coalition's success.


title: Leopard 2

text: Turkey operates 354 Leopard 2A4 tanks. Initially using other tank types including upgraded M60s, in December 2016 Turkey deployed a number of Leopard 2A4s to the Syrian Civil War against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) as part of Operation Euphrates Shield. Initially, three of the Turkish Leopard 2A4s operating in Syria were destroyed or damaged by ISIS using anti-tank missile systems (possibly Fagot or Konkurs anti-tank guided missiles obtained from Syrian or Iraqi Army captured stocks). In mid-December 2016, two 2A4 tanks were captured by ISIS near al-Bab city in Syria during Euphrates Shield operations. Amaq News Agency posted video of vehicles claimed to be captured Leopard 2A4s.


title: Leopard 2

text: By late December 2016, ISIS had captured or incapacitated 10 Leopard 2A4s. These were damaged by anti-tank weapons, IEDs, or other unknown causes. Additional ISIS propaganda images and video depicting several completely destroyed Leopards, some with their turrets blown off, were published in January 2017. Tanks which suffered the worst damage may have been destroyed by air strikes in order to prevent capture but sources generally state that the damage was caused solely with anti-tank missiles or car bombs driven by a suicide bomber, also known as suicide vehicle borne improvised explosive devices or SVBIED.


title: Leopard 2

text: In January 2017, the German newspaper "Die Welt" reported that ISIL fighters used 9M133 Kornet anti-tank missiles to destroy six Leopard 2 tanks used by the Turkish military in Syria.


title: Leopard 2

text: Turkey also confirmed the use of Leopard 2A4 tanks during the Turkish military operation in Afrin to the German government.


title: Leopard 2

text: The Leopard 2 uses spaced multilayer armour throughout the design. The armour consists of a combination of steel plates of different hardness, elastic materials and other non-metallic materials. Steel plates with high hardness and high ductility are used. The armour is a result of extensive research about the formation and penetration mechanism of shaped charge jets. The Leopard 2's armour might be based on the British Burlington armour, which had already been demonstrated to West Germany in 1970.


title: Leopard 2

text: Later, in the mid-1970s, full details about Burlington were handed over to the West German government. The frontal arc of the Leopard 2's armour is designed to withstand large caliber kinetic energy penetrators and shaped charge projectiles. During the 1980s, it was estimated that the Leopard 2's front would resist 125 mm Armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS) rounds fired from a distance of 1,500 m.


title: Leopard 2

text: The Leopard 2A4's armour has a maximum physical thickness of based on unofficial measurements and estimates made by former conscripts and professional soldiers of the German army. On the Leopard 2A5 and subsequent models, the thickness is increased by the wedge-shaped armour module to .


title: Leopard 2

text: The side and the rear of the tank protect against heavy machine guns, medium caliber rounds and older types of tank ammunition. The side of the hull is covered by armour skirts to increase protection against projectiles and RPGs. The frontal third of the hull sides is covered by heavy ballistic skirts, while the rest of the hull sides is covered by steel-reinforced rubber skirts. For increased protection against mines, the sides of the hull floor are sloped by 45° and the floor is reinforced with corrugations.


title: Leopard 2

text: The Leopard 2's design follows the concept of compartmentation. Possible sources of fire or explosions have been moved away from the crew. In the turret, the ammunition and the hydraulics are located in compartments separated from the crew. In case of a detonation, the blow-off panels on the compartment roofs will direct the explosion and fire away from the crew. The crew is also protected against nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) threats, as the Leopard 2 is equipped with a Dräger NBC overpressurization system, which provides up to over-pressure inside the vehicle.


title: Leopard 2

text: Two groups of four Wegmann 76 mm smoke mortars are mounted on either side of the turret and can be electrically fired either as single rounds or in salvos of four. They are mounted on most Leopard 2 models, with the exception of Dutch Leopard 2s, which are equipped instead with a Dutch-designed smoke mortar system with six barrels on each side. Swedish Stridsvagn 122 utilise French GALIX smoke dispensers, similar to the system found on the French Leclerc.


title: Leopard 2

text: The Leopard 2 is equipped with a fire protection system. Four 9 kg Halon fire extinguisher bottles are installed on the right behind the driver's station. The bottles are connected to pipes and hoses and are activated automatically by the fire detection system, when temperatures rise above inside the fighting compartment, or manually via a control panel in the driver's compartment. An extra 2.5 kg Halon fire extinguisher is stored on the floor beneath the main gun.


title: Leopard 2

text: Following the Leopard 2's introduction into service in 1979, the armour has been gradually improved over the years. A modified version of spaced multilayer armour was introduced beginning with the 97th vehicle of the 6th production batch. The same batch also introduced an improved type of heavy ballistic skirts.


title: Leopard 2

text: The Leopard 2A5 upgrade focused on increased armour protection. While upgrading a Leopard 2 tank to the Leopard 2A5 configuration, the roof covering the armour modules is cut open and new armour modules are inserted. New additional armour modules made of laminated armour cover the frontal arc of the turret. They have a distinctive arrowhead shape and improve the protection against both kinetic penetrators and shaped charges. The side skirts also incorporate improved armour protection. A 25 mm-thick spall liner reduces the danger of crew injuries in case of armour penetration.


title: Leopard 2

text: The Leopard 2A7 features the latest generation of passive armour and belly armour providing protection against mines and IEDs. The Leopard 2A7 is fitted with adapters for mounting additional armour modules or protection systems against RPGs.


title: Leopard 2

text: For urban combat, the Leopard 2 can be fitted with different packages of modular armour. The Leopard 2A4M CAN, Leopard 2 PSO (Peace Support Operations) and the Leopard 2A7 can mount thick modules of composite armour along the flanks of the turret and hull, while slat armour can be adapted at the vehicle's rear. The armour modules provide protection against the RPG-7, which depending on the warhead can penetrate between and of steel armour. The Leopard 2A6M CAN increases protection against rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) by including additional slat armour.


title: Leopard 2

text: Additional armour packages have been developed by a number of different companies. IBD Deisenroth has developed upgrades with MEXAS and Advanced Modular Armor Protection (AMAP) composite armour, the latter is being used on Singaporean and Indonesian Leopard 2 tanks. RUAG has developed an armour upgrade utilizing their SidePRO-ATR composite armour. This upgrade was first presented on the IAV 2013.


title: Leopard 2

text: The Leopard 2A4M and 2A6M add an additional mine protection plate for the belly, which increases protection against mines and IEDs.


title: Leopard 2

text: On 22 February 2021, the German Defence Ministry agreed to acquire Trophy, an active protection system of Israeli design. 17 German Army tanks will be fitted with the system, with integration planned to be completed in 2023.


title: Leopard 2

text: Estimated levels of protection for the Leopard 2 range from 590 to 690 mm RHAe on the turret, 600 mm RHAe on the glacis and lower front hull on the Leopard 2A4, to 920–940 mm RHAe on the turret, 620 mm RHAe on the glacis and lower front hull on the Leopard 2A6 against kinetic projectiles.


title: Leopard 2

text: According to a description page hosted by the Federation of American Scientists, the armour of the Leopard 2A4 is believed to provide protection equivalent to 700 mm armour steel (RHA) against kinetic energy penetrators and 1000 mm RHA against shaped charge warheads.


title: Leopard 2

text: The primary armament for production versions of the Leopard 2 is the Rheinmetall 120 mm smoothbore gun—the same gun later adapted for use on the M1 Abrams—in either the L/44 variant (found on all production Leopard 2s until the A5), or the L/55 variant (as found on the Leopard 2A6 and subsequent models). Ammunition for the gun comprises 27 rounds stored in a special magazine in the forward section of the hull, to the left of the driver's station, with an additional 15 rounds stored in the left side of the turret bustle, which are separated from the fighting compartment by an electrically operated door.


title: Leopard 2

text: If the ammunition storage area is hit, a blow-off panel in the turret roof would direct an explosion upwards away from the crew compartment. The gun is fully stabilised, and can fire a variety of types of rounds, such as the German DM43 APFSDS-T anti-tank round, which is said to be able to penetrate of steel armour at a range of , and the German DM12 High-explosive anti-tank (HEAT). For the L/55 gun, a newer APFSDS-T round was introduced to take advantage of the longer barrel, the DM-53, which is said to be able to penetrate 750 mm of RHAe armour at a range of 2,000 meters. The bore evacuator and the gun's thermal sleeve of the A4 and A5, designed to regulate the temperature of the barrel, are fabricated from glass-reinforced plastic. The barrel has a chrome lining to increase barrel life. The main gun is capable of power elevating from +20° to −9°.


title: Leopard 2

text: Rheinmetall has developed an upgrade for Leopard 2 tanks to give them the ability to fire the Israeli LAHAT anti-tank guided missile through the main gun. The missile can engage targets out to a range of .


title: Leopard 2

text: The Leopard 2 is equipped with two machine guns, one mounted co-axially, the other on an anti-aircraft mount. German models use the MG 3 7.62 mm machine gun; Dutch and Singaporean models use FN MAG 7.62 mm machine guns; Swiss models use Swiss MG 87 7.5 mm machine guns. 4,750 rounds of machine gun ammunition are carried on board the Leopard 2. More recent variants such as the Leopard 2A7+ are capable of mounting a Remotely-Controlled Weapons Station fitted with a Browning M2HB Heavy Machine Gun, near the commander's hatch.


title: Leopard 2

text: The standard fire control system found on the Leopard 2 is the German EMES 15 fire control system with a dual magnification stabilised primary sight. The primary sight has an integrated neodymium yttrium aluminium garnet rangefinder and a 120 element Mercury cadmium telluride, HgCdTe (also known as CMT) Zeiss thermographic camera, both of which are linked to the tank's fire control computer. A backup 8x auxiliary telescope FERO-Z18 is mounted coaxially for the gunner.


title: Leopard 2

text: The commander has an independent periscope, the Rheinmetall/Zeiss PERI-R 17 A2. The PERI-R 17 A2 is a stabilised panoramic periscope sight designed for day/night observation and target identification. It provides an all round view with a traverse of 360°. The thermal image from the commander's periscope is displayed on a monitor inside the tank. Initial production tanks were not equipped with a thermal sight, due to the sight not being ready, and instead temporarily substituted the PZB 200 low light TV system (LLLTV).


title: Leopard 2

text: The fire control suite is capable of providing up to three range values in four seconds. The range data is transmitted to the fire control computer and is used to calculate the firing solution. Because the laser rangefinder is integrated into the gunner's primary sight, the gunner is able to read the digital range measurement directly. The maximum range of the laser rangefinder is up to 10,000 m with a measuring accuracy within 10 m at this range. The combined system allows the Leopard 2 to engage moving targets at ranges of up to 5,000 meters whilst itself being on the move over rough terrain.


title: Leopard 2

text: The Leopard 2 is propelled by the MTU MB 873 Ka-501 engine. It provides at 2600 RPM and of torque at 1600–1700 RPM. The MTU MB 873 Ka-501 is a four-stroke, 47.7 litre, 90° V-block 12-cylinder, twin-turbocharged and intercooled, liquid-cooled diesel engine (with multi-fuel capability). It has an estimated fuel consumption rate of around 300 litres per 100 km on roads and 500 litres per 100 km across country, and is coupled to the Renk HSWL 354 gear and brake system.


title: Leopard 2

text: The Renk HSWL 354 transmission has four forward and two reverse gears, with a torque converter and is completely automatic, with the driver selecting the range. The Leopard 2 has four fuel tanks, which have a total capacity of approximately 1,160 litres, giving a maximum road range of about 500 km. The propulsion pack is capable of driving the tank to a top road speed of 68 km/h (limited to 50 km/h during peacetime by law), and a top reverse speed of 31 km/h. The power pack can be changed in the field in 35 minutes. The engine and transmission is separated from the crew compartment through a fireproof bulkhead. An enhanced version of the EuroPowerPack, with a MTU MT883 engine has been trialled by the Leopard 2.


title: Leopard 2

text: The Leopard 2 has a torsion bar suspension and has advanced friction dampers. The running gear consists of seven dual rubber-tyred road wheels and four return rollers per side, with the idler wheel at the front and drive sprocket at the rear. The tracks are Diehl 570F tracks, with rubber-bushed end connectors, which have removable rubber pads and use 82 links on each track. For use in icy ground, up to 18 rubber pads can be replaced by the same number of grousers, which are stored in the vehicle's bow when not in use. The upper part of the tracks are covered with side skirts.


title: Leopard 2

text: The Leopard 2 can drive through water deep using a snorkel or without any preparation. It can climb vertical obstacles over one metre high.


title: Leopard 2

text: The German Army has prioritised mobility in the Leopard 2, which has made it one of the fastest MBTs in the world.


title: Leopard 2

text: The baseline Leopard 2, sometimes informally called the "A0" to differentiate it from later versions, was the first series manufactured version. The vehicles were manufactured from October 1979 until March 1982, altogether 380 vehicles. 209 were built by Krauss Maffei and 171 by MaK. The basic equipment consisted of electrical-hydraulic stabiliser WNA-H22, a fire control computer, a laser rangefinder, a wind sensor, a general-purpose telescope EMES 15, a panorama periscope PERI R17, the gunner's primary sight FERO Z18, on the turret roof as well as a computer-controlled tank testing set RPP 1–8. 200 of the vehicles had a low-light enhancer (PZB 200) instead of thermal imaging. Two chassis served as driver training vehicles.


title: Leopard 2

text: Minor modifications and the installation of the gunner's thermal sight were worked into the second batch of 450 vehicles Leopard 2, designated the A1. Krauss-Maffei built 248 (Chassis Nr. 10211 to 10458) and Mak built 202 (Chassis Nr. 20173 to 20347). Deliveries of the "2A1" models started in March 1982 and ended in November 1983. The two most notable changes were the modification of the ammunition racks to be identical to those in the M1A1 Abrams, and redesigned fuel filters that reduce refuelling time.


title: Leopard 2

text: A third batch of 300 Leopard 2, 165 by Krauss-Maffei (Chassis Nr. 10459 to 10623) and 135 by MaK (Chassis Nr. 20375 to 20509.), was built between November 1983 and November 1984. This batch included more minor changes that were later retrofitted to the earlier 2A1s.


title: Leopard 2

text: This designation was given to upgraded vehicles of the first batch of Leopard 2s, brought up to the standard of the second and third batches. This modernisation gradually replaced the original PZB 200 sights in the first batch with thermal sights for the EMES 15 as they became available. The upgrade included the fitting of filler openings and caps to the forward hull fuel tanks to allow separate refuelling. There was an addition of a deflector plate for the periscope and a large coverplate to protect the existing NBC protection system. The tank was given new five metre towing cables with a different position. The programme began in 1984 and ended in 1987. The third, fourth and fifth batches, which were produced during this period, had the same features. The modernised first batch can be recognised by the circular plate covering the hole where the cross-wind sensor for the fire-control system was removed.


title: Leopard 2

text: The fourth batch of 300 vehicles, 165 by Krauss-Maffei (Chassis Nr. 10624 to 10788) and 135 by Mak (Chassis Nr. 20510 to 20644), was delivered between December 1984 and December 1985. The main change was the addition of the SEM80/90 digital radio sets (also being fitted to the Leopard 1 at the same time), and the ammunition reloading hatches being welded shut. Even with these minor changes the new batch was known as the "2A3".


title: Leopard 2

text: The most widespread version of the Leopard 2 family, the 2A4 models included more substantial changes, including an automated fire and explosion suppression system, an all-digital fire control system able to handle new ammunition types, and an improved turret with flat titanium/tungsten armour. The Leopard 2s were manufactured in eight batches between 1985 and 1992. All the older models were upgraded to 2A4 standard. Until 1994, Germany operated a total of 2,125 2A4s (695 newly built and the rest modified older versions), while the Netherlands had an additional 445 tanks. The 2A4 was license manufactured in Switzerland as the Panzer 87 "Leopard" or Pz 87. This version included Swiss-built 7.5 mm MG 87 machine guns and communications equipment, and featured an improved NBC protection system. Switzerland operated 380 Pz 87 tanks.


title: Leopard 2

text: After 2000, Germany and the Netherlands found themselves with large stocks of tanks that they had no need for after the Cold War. These tanks were sold to NATO or friendly armies around the world. Among these buyers of the surplus tanks were Turkey (purchasing 354 vehicles), Greece (183), Sweden (160), Chile (140), Finland (139), Poland (128), Austria (114), Spain (108), Canada (107), Indonesia (103), Singapore (96), Norway (52), Denmark (51), and Portugal (37).


title: Leopard 2

text: The "Pz 87WE" ("WertErhaltung") is a planned Swiss modification and upgrade of the Pz 87. The modification significantly improves protection through the addition of the Leopard 2A6M's mine protection kit, thicker armour on the front glacis, and a turret equipped with a Swiss-developed armour package using titanium alloy. The turret roof armour is improved and the smoke grenade launchers redesigned. Further improvements enhance survivability and combat capability, such as a turret electric drive similar to the Leopard 2A5, a driver rear-view camera, an independent weapons station for the loader, and enhanced command and control systems. The fire control system is upgraded, using the Carl Zeiss Optronics GmbH PERI-R17A2 fire control system. A remote weapons station containing a fully stabilised Mg 64 0.50 in (12.7 mm) machine gun is fitted to the tank.


title: Leopard 2

text: Swiss company RUAG introduced a new upgrade package for Pz 87 main battle tanks, to meet the requirements of the Swiss Army. The tank has improved overall protection. It is fitted with new modular composite armor package. Armor modules can be tailored to provide enhanced protection against a specific threat. Damaged modules can be easily replaced in field conditions. Upgraded tanks are less vulnerable to direct hits, anti-tank missiles, RPG rounds, mines and IEDs. Vehicle received new sensors such as a sniper detection sensor and a laser warning receiver.


title: Leopard 2

text: The "Leopard 2 Revolution" or "Leopard 2RI" is an upgraded variant from Rheinmetall for the Leopard 2A4 tank purchased by Indonesia. The upgrade includes AMAP armor from IBD Deisenroth and Rheinmetall Chempro, improved fire control systems, and battlefield management and situational awareness systems.


title: Leopard 2

text: The "Pz 87–140" is an experimental variant of the Swiss Pz 87 with a 140 mm gun and additional armour, which was later used on the newer production variants.


title: Leopard 2

text: The "Leopard 2A4CHL" is the upgraded Chilean version of the Leopard 2A4 ordered by Chile in 2007. Upgrades include new electronics, sighting and information systems meant to elevate the Leopard 2A4's networking capability to be equal to that of the Leopard 2A6, a new suspension system and the upgrading of the tanks main gun to the L/55 smoothbore cannon used on the Leopard 2A6. Other upgrades are remote weapon stations over the gunner and commander hatches fitted with the MG3 and HK GMG. The Leopard 2A4CHL has improved roof and side turret armour and can be uplinked with Chile's battlefield control network.


title: Leopard 2

text: The "Leopard 2A4M CAN" is the upgraded Canadian version of the Leopard 2A4 acquired from the Royal Netherlands Army surplus. The Leopard 2A4M CAN is specially designed for the war in Afghanistan, based on experience gained by Leopard 2 operators. The first 20 were delivered in October 2010. Five were deployed to Afghanistan at the end of 2010 and operated until July 2011, when combat operations stopped. Though originally planned to be up-gunned to the L/55 for consistency with the 2A6M CAN, the longer barrelled guns (optimised for tank-vs-tank warfare) were found to be less than ideal in Afghanistan, therefore it was decided to retain the L/44. Only small areas of slat armour were added, in contrast with the fully caged 2A6M CANs. The protection of the Leopard 2A4M CAN has been further augmented by the addition of applique armour resembling that found on the most recent Leopard 2A7+ variant, but modified to fit the turret configuration of the 2A4. Of the 2A4s acquired, 11 were converted for training use (9 A4s, 2 A4Ms). In February 2011, Canada bought 12 2A4s/Pz 87 from Switzerland for the 'Force Mobility Enhancement' project which, along with the remaining unused ex-Dutch tanks, saw 18 converted to Armoured Engineering Vehicles and 4 converted to Armoured Recovery Vehicles. Canada has also purchased 15 2A4s from Germany as Logistic Stock Vehicles (for spare parts).


title: Leopard 2

text: The "Leopard 2NG" ("Next Generation") is a privately funded Turkish upgrade by ASELSAN that includes the application of AMAP, upgraded optics, completely overhauled turret mechanics and a new fire control system on the work since 1995 and to be delivered by late 2011, which is intended to be used on the new Altay MBT. It was developed without an order of the Turkish Army, but might meet the requirements for the modernization of the Turkish Leopard 2A4s. The old powerpack and the L/44 gun barrel are kept, but the combat weight is increased to 65 tonnes. According to Turkish news sources, Finland was interested in getting the Turkish upgrade package to modernise their fleet of Leopard 2A4s. However, in 2015 Finland purchased 120 2A6 vehicles from the Netherlands.


title: Leopard 2

text: The Leopard 2 hull was used for the Vickers Mk 7 main battle tank, which featured a British-designed turret, where some of the innovations later were incorporated into the Challenger 2 design.


title: Leopard 2

text: In December 2015, Bumar-Labedy signed an agreement with German Rheinmetall Landsysteme Gmbh concerning the technological support of the Polish modernization program for Leopard 2A4 tanks. The company will design, document and execute six prototypes. The first upgraded Leopard 2PLs have arrived in Poland in June 2020, with all 142 tanks to be delivered by 2023. The upgrades include third generation night vision systems (production of the Warsaw PCO), new additional armor modules and anti-splash lining, removal of flammable components (turret drive system and main propulsion system), installation of new fire protection system, modernization of the tank's integrated monitoring and testing equipment, the possibility of using new types of ammunition (programmable DM-11 and DM-63), and an auxiliary generator set (APU). Construction of all 142 units will be completed by the end of 2020.


title: Leopard 2

text: Turkey is planning to modernize its Leopard 2A4 MBTs as "Leopard 2A4TR" with the T1 Modernization Package. According to the Defense Industry Presidency, Leopard 2A4 tanks will be modernized with; Explosive Reactive Armor (ERA), T1 Reactive-Passive Armor, High Ballistic Strength Cage Armor, Hollow Modular Add-on Armor, Close Range Surveillance System (YAMGÖZ), Laser Warning Receiver System (LIAS), SARP Remote Controlled Weapon System (UKSS), PULAT Active Protection System (AKS), a new power distribution unit, ASELSAN Driver Surveillance System (ADİS) and voice alert system integrations. The modernization programme is to be completed in 2 batches. The programme will start with 84 Leopard 2A4 tanks in the first batch and the remaining tanks will be modernized within the 2nd batch. A total of 334 tanks (including prototypes) are planned to be upgraded with the T1 modernization programme. The new modernized Leopard 2A4 that was presented at the BMC factory was fitted with an Altay turret, which is armed with one 120 mm 55 caliber smoothbore gun designed and manufactured by the Turkish Company MKE, based on a technology transfer from Hyundai Rotem of South Korea. A remote-controlled weapon station is mounted on the top of the turret which is armed with a 12.7mm caliber heavy machine gun.


title: Leopard 2

text: Finland has modernised its Marksman SPAAG vehicles by replacing the original T-55AM chassis with a newer Leopard 2A4 chassis. The upgraded Marksman vehicles were scheduled to enter service with the Finnish Army in 2016. The new Leopard 2 chassis greatly improves mobility compared to the older T-55AM chassis, both on- and off-road. The Leopard 2 chassis is larger, providing a more stable firing platform for the Marksman turret to operate from.


title: Leopard 2

text: "Leopard 2 Improved" was a prototype-series for enhancing the A4, introducing a wedge-shaped, spaced add-on armour to the turret front and the frontal area of the sides. These spaced armour modules defeat a hollow charge prior to reaching the base armour, and cause kinetic-energy penetrators to change direction, eroding them in the process. It does not form a shot-trap, since it does not deflect the penetrators outwards to hit the hull or turret ring. The gun mantlet was redesigned to accept the new armour.


title: Leopard 2

text: The Leopard 2 Imp was developed into the A5. There were some improvements in the main armour composition. The interior received spall liners to reduce fragments if the armour is penetrated. The frontal "heavy" third of the side skirts was replaced with a stronger type. The commander's sight was moved to a new position behind the hatch and it received an independent thermal channel. The gunner's sight was moved to the turret roof as opposed to the cavity in the front armour in previous models. A heavier sliding driver's hatch was fitted. Turret controls went all-electric, increasing reliability and crew safety, as well as weight savings. The gun braking system was improved to prepare for the later mounting of the new L/55 gun tube and to enable firing of more powerful ammunition, such as the DM53 APFSDS. The first A5s were handed over to the German army tank school in 1995 and started to enter regular service with Panzerbataillon 33 in December the same year.


title: Leopard 2

text: The Leopard 2A5 DK is a variant of the Leopard 2A5 similar to the Leopard 2A6 with some small modifications, used by the Danish Army.


title: Leopard 2

text: Based on the Leopard 2 Improved, Stridsvagn 122 is a Swedish Army tank. 120 units were built, 91 of which were licence-produced in Sweden. The tank features increased armour on the turret top and front hull, and improved command-, control- and fire-control systems. Externally, it can be distinguished from the Leopard 2A5 by the French GALIX smoke dispensers, different storage bins, and the much thicker crew hatches. The Strv 122B+ Evolution, a variant equipped with modular AMAP composite armour from IBD Deisenroth, has increased 360° protection against threats like EFPs, RPGs and IEDs. The width of has been kept, while the weight increases by only .


title: Leopard 2

text: In the early 1990s, Rheinmetall began development of a 140 mm smoothbore cannon for use in future tank designs. The new gun was intended to counter new Soviet tank developments, especially since the next generation of Soviet main battle tanks were rumoured to be armed with a 135 mm or 152 mm cannon. The new 140 mm cannon was part of a modernisation programme for the Leopard 2 known as the KWS III. Test firing of the new 140 mm cannon was conducted. Results showed that the gun had high penetration values, and had a muzzle velocity of around 2,000 metres a second, with potential to be increased further. However, the 140 mm rounds were too heavy for the tank crew to handle effectively.


title: Leopard 2

text: The KWS III upgrade was to feature a new turret. This new turret was equipped with the planned 140 mm cannon and an autoloader. The introduction of an autoloader reduced the tank's crew to three members, as a dedicated loader was no longer needed. The gun's 32 rounds of ammunition were stored separate from the crew in a large compartment occupying the entire rear of the turret, in order to increase crew survivability in the event of a cook off. The turntable-style turret had the gun offset to the left side, due to the autoloader's lateral feeding of ammunition into the cannon breech. The turret was powered by an electro-hydraulic drive and featured an IFIS battlefield management system. The crew was protected by an armoured capsule and ballistic protection for the hull was to be improved. The planned protection level of the KWS III upgrade was to be equal to or better than the Leopard 2A5.


title: Leopard 2

text: A total of 650 Leopard 2 KWS III tanks were originally projected to be purchased. However, in 1995, the KWS III programme was cancelled due to


title: Leopard 2

text: Despite this, development continued on the 140 mm cannon, with Rheinmetall coordinating with the British Royal Ordnance and French GIAT companies. The 140 mm cannon was fitted to an old Leopard 2 prototype with the turret T19. Counterweights were added to the rear of the turret to balance the increased weight of the 140 mm cannon. The modified Leopard 2 was not equipped with any other KWS III upgrades apart from the new gun. Live fire testing showed mixed results, where the 140 mm cannon showed superior penetrating power compared to the existing 120 mm cannon, but demonstrated poorer handling characteristics. The lack of the autoloader on the prototype further hampered performance.


title: Leopard 2

text: The Leopard 2A6 includes the addition of the Rheinmetall 120 mm L/55 smoothbore gun and other changes. All German tank battalions of the "crisis intervention forces" are equipped with the A6. Canada purchased 20 Leopard 2A6s from the Netherlands. These were delivered in 2007. Portugal purchased 37 Leopard 2A6 from the Dutch in 2007, with delivery in 2008. In January 2014, Finland purchased 100 L2A6s, as well as munitions, simulators, and a ten-year supply of reserve parts from the Netherlands. The tanks were delivered in batches between 2015 and 2019.


title: Leopard 2

text: The Leopard 2A6A1 is a command version of the Leopard 2A6, stemming from the KWS I programme. The vehicle includes additional radios (with the amount depending on level of command) to accommodate the communications for section, platoon, troop, company, squadron or battalion commanders. For section leaders the vehicle is fitted with 1x SEM 80 and 1x SEM 90 VHF radios. For platoon or troop commanders the vehicle is fitted with 1x SEM 80 and 1x SEM 90 VHF radios along with a 800m field telephone cable drum fitted at the rear of the vehicle. For company, squadron or battalion commanders the vehicle is fitted with 2x SEM 80 or 1x SEM 93 and 1x SEM 90 VHF radios along with a 800m field telephone cable drum, for either fitted at the rear of the vehicle.


title: Leopard 2

text: The Leopard 2A6M is a version of the 2A6 with enhanced mine protection under the chassis, and internal enhancements to improve crew survivability. In the summer of 2007, Canada borrowed 20 A6Ms from Germany for deployment to Afghanistan.


title: Leopard 2

text: The Leopard 2 Hel is a derivative of the 2A6 that was ordered by the Greek Army in 2003 – the "Hel" stands for "Hellenic". The 170 tanks were delivered between 2006 and 2009. A total of 140 were built in Greece by ELBO, which delivered the first units in late 2006.


title: Leopard 2

text: The Leopard 2A6M CAN is a Canadian variant of the Leopard 2A6M. Significant modifications include distinctive black boxes mounted on the rear of the turret bustle, and stand-off slat armour. The first tanks configured in this variant were 20 loaned from the German Bundeswehr in an effort to increase firepower and protection given to Canadian troops operating in the south of Afghanistan. The loaned tanks retain their German MG3 machine guns, the ex-Dutch tanks are also expected to retain their FN MAG machine guns due to commonality with Canadian stocks of C6 GPMG, itself a variant of the FN MAG. Due to the loaned status of the first 20 tanks, the air conditioning unit originally could not be installed, as only minimal changes could be made. The crew wore cooling vests instead, and the turret's electric drive generates less heat than the hydraulic drive of the older Leopard C2. The loaned German tanks will be kept by the Canadian Forces and may be further upgraded, while ex-Dutch Leopard 2A6s were modified to German Leopard 2A6M specifications and used as restitution for the loaned tanks. Canadian Leopard 2s in Afghanistan were later fitted with air conditioning units, a much needed commodity in the scorching desert of Afghanistan, and Saab's Barracuda camouflage mats, which reduce solar loading by 50 percent.


title: Leopard 2

text: The Leopard 2A6TR was the Turkish variant during Turkish Army tank procurement project in 2000. The version was based on 2A6EX. The project was dropped in favor of developing the indigenous Altay tank.


title: Leopard 2

text: The Leopard 2E is a derivative of the 2A6, with greater armour protection, developed under a programme of co-production between the defence industries of Spain and Germany. The programme was developed within the frame of collaboration decided in 1995 between the Defence Ministries of both countries, in which also was included the cession of use by a period of five years of 108 Leopard 2A4 from the German Army to the Spanish Army. The cession was extended up to 2016, and after that those tanks will be the sole property of the Spanish Army, as has been made public in January 2006, then having been paid a total of €15,124,014 in ten yearly installments, giving the Spanish co-ownership from 2006.


title: Leopard 2

text: In 1998, the Spanish government agreed to locally build 219 tanks of the Leopard 2E line, 16 recovery tanks Leopard 2ER (Bufalo) and 4 training vehicles. They chose Santa Bárbara Sistemas as the main contractor. The programme, with a budget of €1,939.4 million, includes the integrated logistical support, training courses for crew instructors and maintenance engineers and driving, turret, maintenance, aiming and shooting simulators. Deliveries of the first batch began in 2004.


title: Leopard 2

text: The Leopard 2PL is a Polish modernized version of the Leopard 2A4, carried out in cooperation with Rheinmetall and the Polish Armaments Group (pol. Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa PGZ). The Leopard 2PL MBT is primarily tasked with assault, maintaining territory, and supporting mechanized and motorized subdivisions with its on-board weapon systems in all weather conditions during the day and night. The main upgrades when compared to the Leopard 2A4 include: modernization of the commander's and gunner's sight, additional ballistic modules on the turret, replacement of the hydraulic stabilization system to a new electric system, new fire extinguishing and fire suppression systems, a new commander's control and monitoring system, installation of an auxiliary power unit (APU), new turret stowage compartment for crew equipment, modernization of its main gun to use new types of programmable ammunition, and the integration of day/night rear camera for drivers. Also included are customized towing vehicles due to the increased weight of the upgraded tank. The upgraded 2PL version is in service with the Polish Land Forces. Of the Leopard 2A4s from the first (128) and the second (14) batches, 24 have been upgraded to Leopard 2PL standard. The rest will be upgraded to the 2PLM1 standard.


title: Leopard 2

text: The new Leopard 2 PSO (Peace Support Operations) variant is designed specially for urban warfare, which had been encountered in peacekeeping operations with increasing frequency. The Leopard 2 PSO is equipped with more effective all-around protection, a secondary weapons station, improved reconnaissance ability, a bulldozer blade, a shorter gun barrel for manoeuvring on urban streets at the expense of fire range, non-lethal armament, close-range surveillance ability through camera systems, a searchlight and further changes to improve its perseverance and mobility in a built-up non-wide open areas. These features are similar to the Tank Urban Survival Kit for the American M1A2 Abrams.


title: Leopard 2

text: The Leopard 2A7 vehicle is not intended to be optimized for combat in urban terrain, thus it is fundamentally different from the KMW variant, the: "2A7+" (see below). A total of 20 vehicles were provided for converting. It involves former Dutch A6NL models returned by Canada to Germany. The original upgrade to A6M has been extended in coordination with Canada and includes a crew-compartment cooling-system from the Leopard 2 A6M-HEL series, a new 20 kW auxiliary power unit based on the Steyr Motors M12 TCA UI engine, the Saab Barracuda Mobile Camouflage System (MCS) with Heat-Transfer Reduction (HTR CoolCam) system, a field trial proven combat management and information system (IFIS: "Integriertes Führungs- und Informationssystem"), onboard network optimization with ultracapacitors in the chassis and turret, a SOTAS IP digital intercom system, a renewal of the fire suppression system in the crew compartment, and the retrofitting of Attica thermal imaging module in the commander optics.


title: Leopard 2

text: The weapon system is adapted for firing HE ammunition. It is fitted for, but not with, additional passive side protection armour. The first Leopard 2A7 was handed over to the German Army in Munich in December 2014. 14 vehicles were produced for Tank Battalion 203, 4 went to the Armoured Corps Training Centre and one vehicle went to the Technical School for Land Systems and School for Technology of the Army. The last tank remains as a reference vehicle at KMW. The tank features a completely new armour package that features Tungsten, Titanium as well as Nano-Ceramics. The estimated armour protection for the hull is around ~620 mm RHAe KE, and near ~1000 mm RHAe KE for the turret.


title: Leopard 2

text: The Danish Armed Forces received its first Leopard 2A7 main battle tanks upgraded in Germany from the Leopard 2A5DK version at the Dragoon Barracks in Holstebro. The Danish Army will receive a total of 44 Leopard 2A7 vehicles by 2022.


title: Leopard 2

text: Siemon T. Wezeman, senior researcher at SIPRI's arms transfers and military expenditure programme, stated that information from the UN Register of Conventional Arms 2016, indicated that some Leopard 2A7s were transferred to Singapore after 2014. SIPRI reported that the Singapore Army probably acquired a total of 45 Leopard 2A7s between 2016 and 2019, but the Singapore's Ministry of Defence denied having acquired the 2A7 version, presumably to minimise anxiety among her neighbors.


title: Leopard 2

text: The Leopard 2A7+ was first shown to the public during the Eurosatory 2010, featuring the label "Developed by KMW – tested and qualified by the German Ministry of Defence". The Leopard 2A7+ has been tested by the Bundeswehr under the name "UrbOp" (urban operations).


title: Leopard 2

text: The Leopard 2A7+ is designed to operate both in low intensity and high intensity conflicts. The tank's protection has been increased by modular armour. The frontal protection has been improved with a dual-kit on the turret and hull front, while 360° protection against RPGs and mine protection increase the survivability of the tank in urban operations. The modular armour's system components were first used by Canada in Afghanistan. It can fire programmable High Explosive munitions. The turret mounted MG3 has been replaced with a stabilised FLW 200 remotely controlled weapon station. The mobility, sustainability and situational awareness have also been improved.


title: Leopard 2

text: In December 2018, Hungary ordered 44 2A7+s, making them the second operator of the improved version, after Qatar.


title: Jimmy Page

text: James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Page is prolific in creating guitar riffs. His style involves various alternative guitar tunings and melodic solos, coupled with aggressive, distorted guitar tones. It is also characterized by his folk and eastern-influenced acoustic work. He is also noted for occasionally playing his guitar with a cello bow to create a droning sound texture to the music.


title: Jimmy Page

text: Page began his career as a studio session musician in London and, by the mid-1960s, alongside Big Jim Sullivan, was one of the most sought-after session guitarists in Britain. He was a member of the Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968. When the Yardbirds broke up, he founded Led Zeppelin, which was active from 1968 to 1980. Following the death of Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, he participated in a number of musical groups throughout the 1980s and 1990s, more specifically XYZ, the Firm, the Honeydrippers, Coverdale–Page, and Page and Plant. Since 2000, Page has participated in various guest performances with many artists, both live and in studio recordings, and participated in a one-off Led Zeppelin reunion in 2007 that was released as the 2012 concert film "Celebration Day". Along with the Edge and Jack White, he participated in the 2008 documentary "It Might Get Loud".


title: Jimmy Page

text: Page is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. "Rolling Stone" magazine has described Page as "the pontiff of power riffing" and ranked him number three in their 2015 list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time", behind Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. In 2010, he was ranked number two in Gibson's list of "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time" and, in 2007, number four on "Classic Rock"s "100 Wildest Guitar Heroes". He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice: once as a member of the Yardbirds (1992) and once as a member of Led Zeppelin (1995).


title: Jimmy Page

text: Page was born to James Patrick Page and Patricia Elizabeth Gaffikin in the west London suburb of Heston on 9 January 1944. His father was a personnel manager at a plastic-coatings plant and his mother, who was of Irish descent, was a doctor's secretary. In 1952, they moved to Feltham and then to Miles Road, Epsom in Surrey. Page was educated from the age of eight at Epsom County Pound Lane Primary School, and when he was eleven he went to Ewell County Secondary School in West Ewell. He came across his first guitar, a Spanish guitar, in the Miles Road house: "I don't know whether [the guitar] was left behind by the people [in the house] before [us], or whether it was a friend of the family's—nobody seemed to know why it was there." First playing the instrument when aged 12, he took a few lessons in nearby Kingston, but was largely self-taught:


title: Jimmy Page

text: When I grew up there weren't many other guitarists ... There was one other guitarist in my school who actually showed me the first chords that I learned and I went on from there. I was bored so I taught myself the guitar from listening to records. So obviously it was a very personal thing.


title: Jimmy Page

text: This "other guitarist" was a boy called Rod Wyatt, a few years his senior, and together with another boy, Pete Calvert, they would practise at Page's house; Page would devote six or seven hours on some days to practising and would always take his guitar with him to secondary school, only to have it confiscated and returned to him after class.


title: Jimmy Page

text: Among Page's early influences were rockabilly guitarists Scotty Moore and James Burton, who both played on recordings made by Elvis Presley. Presley's song "Baby Let's Play House" is cited by Page as being his inspiration to take up the guitar, and he would reprise Moore's playing on the song in the live version of "Whole Lotta Love" on "The Song Remains the Same". He appeared on BBC1 in 1957 with a Höfner President acoustic, which he'd bought from money saved up from his milk round in the summer holidays and which had a pickup so it could be amplified, but his first solid-bodied electric guitar was a second-hand 1959 Futurama Grazioso, later replaced by a Fender Telecaster, a model he had seen Buddy Holly playing on the TV and a real-life example of which he'd played at an electronics exhibition at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London.


title: Jimmy Page

text: Page's musical tastes included skiffle (a popular English music genre of the time) and acoustic folk playing, and the blues sounds of Elmore James, B.B. King, Otis Rush, Buddy Guy, Freddie King, and Hubert Sumlin. "Basically, that was the start: a mixture between rock and blues."


title: Jimmy Page

text: At the age of 13, Page appeared on Huw Wheldon's "All Your Own" talent quest programme in a skiffle quartet, one performance of which aired on BBC1 in 1957. The group played "Mama Don't Want to Skiffle Anymore" and another American-flavoured song, "In Them Ol' Cottonfields Back Home". When asked by Wheldon what he wanted to do after schooling, Page said, "I want to do biological research [to find a cure for] cancer, if it isn't discovered by then."


title: Jimmy Page

text: In an interview with "Guitar Player" magazine, Page stated that "there was a lot of busking in the early days, but as they say, I had to come to grips with it and it was a good schooling." When he was fourteen, and billed as James Page, he played in a group called Malcolm Austin and Whirlwinds, alongside Tony Busson on bass, Stuart Cockett on rhythm and a drummer called Tom, knocking out Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis numbers. This band was short-lived, as Page soon found a drummer for a band he'd previously been playing in with Rod Wyatt, David Williams and Pete Calvert, and came up with a name for them: The Paramounts. The Paramounts played gigs in Epsom, once supporting a group who would later become Johnny Kidd & the Pirates.


title: Jimmy Page

text: Although interviewed for a job as a laboratory assistant, he ultimately chose to leave secondary school in West Ewell to pursue music, doing so at the age of fifteen – the earliest age permitted at the time – having gained four GCE O levels and on the back of a major row with the school Deputy Head Miss Nicholson about his musical ambitions, about which she was wholly scathing.


title: Jimmy Page

text: Page had difficulty finding other musicians with whom he could play on a regular basis. "It wasn't as though there was an abundance. I used to play in many groups ... anyone who could get a gig together, really." Following stints backing recitals by Beat poet Royston Ellis at the Mermaid Theatre between 1960 and 1961, and singer Red E. Lewis, who'd seen him playing with the Paramounts at the Contemporary club in Epsom and told his manager Chris Tidmarsh to ask Page to join his backing band, the Redcaps, after the departure of guitarist Bobby Oats, Page was asked by singer Neil Christian to join his band, the Crusaders. Christian had seen a fifteen-year-old Page playing in a local hall, and the guitarist toured with Christian for approximately two years and later played on several of his records, including the 1962 single, "The Road to Love."


title: Jimmy Page

text: During his stint with Christian, Page fell seriously ill with infectious mononucleosis (i.e. glandular fever) and could not continue touring. While recovering, he decided to put his musical career on hold and concentrate on his other love, painting, and enrolled at Sutton Art College in Surrey. As he explained in 1975:


title: Jimmy Page

text: While still a student, Page often performed on stage at the Marquee Club with bands such as Cyril Davies' All Stars, Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated, and fellow guitarists Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton. He was spotted one night by John Gibb of Brian Howard & the Silhouettes, who asked him to help record some singles for Columbia Graphophone Company, including "The Worrying Kind". Mike Leander of Decca Records first offered Page regular studio work. His first session for the label was the recording "Diamonds" by Jet Harris and Tony Meehan, which went to Number 1 on the singles chart in early 1963.


title: Jimmy Page

text: After brief stints with Carter-Lewis and the Southerners, Mike Hurst and the Method and Mickey Finn and the Blue Men, Page committed himself to full-time session work. As a session guitarist, he was known as 'Lil' Jim Pea' to prevent confusion with the other noted English session guitarist Big Jim Sullivan. Page was mainly called into sessions as "insurance" in instances when a replacement or second guitarist was required by the recording artist. "It was usually myself and a drummer", he explained, "though they never mention the drummer these days, just me ... Anyone needing a guitarist either went to Big Jim [Sullivan] or myself." He stated that "In the initial stages they just said, play what you want, cos at that time I couldn't read music or anything."


title: Jimmy Page

text: Page was the favoured session guitarist of record producer Shel Talmy. As a result, he secured session work on songs for the Who and the Kinks. Page is credited with playing acoustic twelve-string guitar on two tracks on the Kinks' debut album, "I'm a Lover Not a Fighter" and "I've Been Driving on Bald Mountain", and possibly on the B-side "I Gotta Move". He played rhythm guitar on the sessions for the Who's first single "I Can't Explain" (although Pete Townshend was reluctant to allow Page's contribution on the final recording; Page also played lead guitar on the B-side, "Bald Headed Woman"). Page's studio gigs in 1964 and 1965 included Marianne Faithfull's "As Tears Go By", Jonathan King's "Everyone's Gone to the Moon", the Nashville Teens' "Tobacco Road", the Rolling Stones' "Heart of Stone", Van Morrison & Them's "Baby, Please Don't Go", "Mystic Eyes", and "Here Comes the Night", Dave Berry's "The Crying Game" and "My Baby Left Me", Brenda Lee's "Is It True", Shirley Bassey's "Goldfinger", and Petula Clark's "Downtown".


title: Jimmy Page

text: In a 2010 interview, Page recalled contributing guitar to the incidental music of the Beatles' 1964 film "A Hard Day's Night", which was being recorded at Abbey Road Studios.


title: Jimmy Page

text: In 1965, Page was hired by Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham to act as house producer and A&R man for the newly formed Immediate Records label, which allowed him to play on and/or produce tracks by John Mayall, Nico, Chris Farlowe, Twice as Much and Clapton. Also in 1965, Page produced one of Dana Gillespie's early singles, "Thank You Boy". Page also formed a brief songwriting partnership with then romantic interest Jackie DeShannon. He composed and recorded songs for the John Williams (not to be confused with the film composer John Williams) album "The Maureeny Wishful Album" with Big Jim Sullivan. Page worked as session musician on Donovan Leitch's "Sunshine Superman", on Engelbert Humperdinck's "Release Me", the Johnny Hallyday albums "Jeune homme" and "Je suis né dans la rue", the Al Stewart album "Love Chronicles" and played guitar on five tracks of Joe Cocker's debut album, "With a Little Help from My Friends". Over the years since 1970, Page played lead guitar on 10 Roy Harper tracks, comprising 81 minutes of music.


title: Jimmy Page

text: When questioned about which songs he played on, especially ones where there exists some controversy as to what his exact role was, Page often points out that it is hard to remember exactly what he did given the enormous number of sessions he was playing at the time. In a radio interview, he explained that "I was doing three sessions a day, fifteen sessions a week. Sometimes I would be playing with a group, sometimes I could be doing film music, it could be a folk session ... I was able to fit all these different roles."


title: Jimmy Page

text: Although Page recorded with many notable musicians, many of these early tracks are only available as bootleg recordings, several of which were released by the Led Zeppelin fan club in the late 1970s. Examples include early jam sessions featuring him and guitarists Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton covering various blues themes, which were included on compilations released by Immediate Records. Several early tracks were compiled on the twin album release, "". He also recorded with Keith Richards on guitar and vocals in Olympic Sound Studios on 15 October 1974. Along with Ric Grech on bass and Bruce Rowland on drums, a track called "Scarlet" was cut. Page reflected later in an interview with "Rolling Stone"s Cameron Crowe: "I did what could possibly be the next Stones B side. It was Ric Grech, Keith and me doing a number called "Scarlet." I can't remember the drummer. It sounded very similar in style and mood to those "Blonde on Blonde" tracks. It was great, really good. We stayed up all night and went down to Island Studios where Keith put some reggae guitars over one section. I just put some solos on it, but it was eight in the morning of the next day before I did that. He took the tapes to Switzerland and someone found out about them. Richards told people that it was a track from my album".


title: Jimmy Page

text: Page left studio work when the increasing influence of Stax Records on popular music led to the greater incorporation of brass and orchestral arrangements into recordings at the expense of guitars. He stated that his time as a session player served as extremely good schooling:


title: Jimmy Page

text: In late 1964, Page was approached about the possibility of replacing Eric Clapton in the Yardbirds, but he declined out of loyalty to his friend. In February 1965, Clapton quit the Yardbirds and Page was formally offered his spot, but unwilling to give up his lucrative career as a session musician and worried about his health under touring conditions, he suggested his friend Jeff Beck. On 16 May 1966, drummer Keith Moon, bass player John Paul Jones, keyboardist Nicky Hopkins, Jeff Beck and Page recorded "Beck's Bolero" in London's IBC Studios. The experience gave Page an idea to form a new supergroup featuring Beck, along with The Who's John Entwistle on bass and Moon on drums. However, the lack of a quality vocalist and contractual problems prevented the project from getting off the ground. During this time, Moon suggested the name "Led Zeppelin" for the first time, after Entwistle commented that the proceedings would take to the air like a lead balloon.


title: Jimmy Page

text: Within weeks, Page attended a Yardbirds concert at Oxford. After the show, he went backstage where Paul Samwell-Smith announced that he was leaving the group. Page offered to replace Samwell-Smith, and this was accepted by the group. He initially played electric bass with the Yardbirds before finally switching to twin lead guitar with Beck when Chris Dreja moved to bass. The musical potential of the line-up was scuttled, however, by interpersonal conflicts caused by constant touring and a lack of commercial success, although they released one single, "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago". While Page and Beck played together in the Yardbirds, the trio of Page, Beck and Clapton never played in the original group at the same time. The three guitarists did appear on stage together at the ARMS Charity Concerts in 1983.


title: Jimmy Page

text: After Beck's departure, the Yardbirds remained a quartet. They recorded one album with Page on lead guitar, "Little Games". The album received indifferent reviews and was not a commercial success, peaking at number 80 on the "Billboard" 200. Though their studio sound was fairly commercial at the time, the band's live performances were just the opposite, becoming heavier and more experimental. These concerts featured musical aspects that Page would later perfect with Led Zeppelin, most notably performances of "Dazed and Confused".


title: Jimmy Page

text: After the departure of Keith Relf and Jim McCarty in 1968, Page reconfigured the group with a new line-up to fulfill unfinished tour dates in Scandinavia. To this end, Page recruited vocalist Robert Plant and drummer John Bonham, and he was also contacted by John Paul Jones, who asked to join. During the Scandinavian tour, the new group appeared as the New Yardbirds, but soon recalled the old joke by Keith Moon and John Entwistle. Page stuck with that name to use for his new band. Manager Peter Grant changed it to "Led Zeppelin", to avoid a mispronunciation as ""Leed Zeppelin.""


title: Jimmy Page

text: Led Zeppelin are one of the best-selling music groups in the history of audio recording. Various sources estimate the group's worldwide sales at more than 200 or even 300 million albums. With 111.5 million RIAA-certified units, they are the second-best-selling band in the United States. Each of their nine studio albums reached the top 10 of the US Billboard album chart, and six reached the number-one spot.


title: Jimmy Page

text: Led Zeppelin were the progenitors of heavy metal and hard rock, and their sound was largely the product of Page's input as a producer and musician. The band's individualistic style drew from a wide variety of influences. They performed on multiple record-breaking concert tours, which also earned them a reputation for excess. Although they remained commercially and critically successful, in the later 1970s, the band's output and touring schedule were limited by the personal difficulties of the members.


title: Jimmy Page

text: Page explained that he had a very specific idea in mind as to what he wanted Led Zeppelin to be, from the very beginning:


title: Jimmy Page

text: Led Zeppelin broke up in 1980 following the death of Bonham at Page's home. Page initially refused to touch a guitar, grieving for his friend. For the rest of the 1980s, his work consisted of a series of short-term collaborations in the bands the Firm, the Honeydrippers, reunions and individual work, including film soundtracks. He also became active in philanthropic work.


title: Jimmy Page

text: Page made a return to the stage at a Jeff Beck show in March 1981 at the Hammersmith Odeon. Also in 1981, Page joined with Yes bassist Chris Squire and drummer Alan White to form a supergroup called XYZ (for former Yes-Zeppelin). They rehearsed several times, but the project was shelved. Bootlegs of these sessions revealed that some of the material emerged on later projects, notably The Firm's "Fortune Hunter" and Yes songs "Mind Drive" and "Can You Imagine?". Page joined Yes on stage in 1984 at Westfalenhalle in Dortmund, Germany, playing "I'm Down".


title: Jimmy Page

text: In 1982, Page collaborated with director Michael Winner to record the "Death Wish II" soundtrack. This and several subsequent Page recordings, including the "Death Wish III" soundtrack, were recorded and produced at his recording studio, The Sol in Cookham, which he had purchased from Gus Dudgeon in the early 1980s.


title: Jimmy Page

text: In 1983, Page appeared with the A.R.M.S. (Action Research for Multiple Sclerosis) charity series of concerts which honoured Small Faces bassist Ronnie Lane, who suffered from the disease. For the first shows at the Royal Albert Hall in London, Page's set consisted of songs from the "Death Wish II" soundtrack (with Steve Winwood on vocals) and an instrumental version of "Stairway to Heaven". A four-city tour of the United States followed, with Paul Rodgers of Bad Company replacing Winwood. During the tour, Page and Rodgers performed "Midnight Moonlight", which would later appear on The Firm's first album. All of the shows featured an on stage jam of "Layla" that reunited Page with Beck and Clapton. According to the book "Hammer of the Gods", it was reportedly around this time that Page told friends that he had just ended seven years of heroin use. On 13 December 1983, Page joined Plant on stage for one encore at the Hammersmith Odeon in London.


title: Jimmy Page

text: Page next linked up with Roy Harper for the 1984 album "Whatever Happened to Jugula?" and occasional concerts, performing a predominantly acoustic set at folk festivals under various guises such as the MacGregors and Themselves. Also in 1984, Page recorded with Plant as the Honeydrippers the album "" and with John Paul Jones on the film soundtrack "Scream for Help".


title: Jimmy Page

text: Page subsequently collaborated with Rodgers on two albums under the name The Firm. The first album, released in 1985, was the self-titled "The Firm". Popular songs included "Radioactive" and "Satisfaction Guaranteed". The album peaked at number 17 on the "Billboard" pop albums chart and went gold in the US. It was followed by "Mean Business" in 1986. The band toured in support of both albums, but soon split up.


title: Jimmy Page

text: Various other projects followed, such as session work for Graham Nash, Stephen Stills and the Rolling Stones (on their 1986 single "One Hit (To the Body)"). In 1986, Page reunited temporarily with his former Yardbirds bandmates to play on several tracks of the Box of Frogs album "Strange Land". Page released a solo album entitled "Outrider" in 1988, which featured contributions from Plant, with Page contributing in turn to Plant's solo album "Now and Zen", which was released the same year. "Outrider" also featured singer John Miles on the album's opening track "Wasting My Time".


title: Jimmy Page

text: Throughout these years, Page also reunited with the other former bandmates of Led Zeppelin to perform live on a few occasions, most notably in 1985 for the Live Aid concert with both Phil Collins and Tony Thompson filling drum duties. However, the band members considered this performance to be sub-standard, with Page having been let down by a poorly tuned Les Paul. Page, Plant and Jones, as well as John Bonham's son Jason, performed at the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary show on 14 May 1988, closing the 12-hour show.


title: Jimmy Page

text: In 1990, a Knebworth concert to aid the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Centre and the British School for Performing Arts and Technology saw Plant unexpectedly joined by Page to perform "Misty Mountain Hop", "Wearing and Tearing" and "Rock and Roll". The same year, Page appeared with Aerosmith at the Monsters of Rock festival. Page also performed with the band's former members at Jason Bonham's wedding. In 1993, Page collaborated with David Coverdale (of English rock band Whitesnake) for the album "Coverdale–Page" and a brief tour of Japan.


title: Jimmy Page

text: In 1994, Page and Robert Plant reunited as "Page and Plant" for an initial performance as part of MTV's "Unplugged" series. The 90-minute special, dubbed "Unledded", premiered to the highest ratings in MTV's history. In October of the same year, the session was released as the live album "", and on DVD as "No Quarter Unledded" in 2004. Following a highly successful mid-1990s tour to support "No Quarter", Page and Plant recorded 1998's "Walking into Clarksdale", featuring the Grammy Award-winning songs "Most High" and "Please Read the Letter".


title: Jimmy Page

text: Page was heavily involved in remastering the Led Zeppelin catalogue. He participated in various charity concerts and charity work, particularly the "Action for Brazil's Children Trust" (ABC Trust), founded by his wife Jimena Gomez-Paratcha in 1998. In the same year, Page played guitar for rap singer/producer Puff Daddy's song "Come with Me", which heavily samples Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir" and was included in the soundtrack of "Godzilla". The two later performed the song on "Saturday Night Live".


title: Jimmy Page

text: Following a benefit performance in the summer where the Black Crowes guested with him, Page teamed up with the band for six shows in October 1999, playing material from the Led Zeppelin catalogue and old blues and rock standards. The last two concerts were recorded in Los Angeles and released as a double live album, "Live at the Greek" in 2000.


title: Jimmy Page

text: Following the release of the live album, Page and the Black Crowes continued their collaboration by joining a package tour with the Who in 2000, which Page ultimately quit before completion.


title: Jimmy Page

text: In 2001, after guesting with Fred Durst and Wes Scantlin's performance of "Thank You" at the MTV Europe Video Music Awards, Page once again continued his collaboration with Robert Plant. After recording a cover of "My Bucket's Got a Hole in It" for a tribute album, the duo performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival.


title: Jimmy Page

text: In 2005, Page was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in recognition of his Brazilian charity work for Task Brazil and Action For Brazil's Children's Trust, made an honorary citizen of Rio de Janeiro later that year and won a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award with Led Zeppelin.


title: Jimmy Page

text: In November 2006, Led Zeppelin was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame. The television broadcasting of the event consisted of an introduction to the band by various famous admirers (including Roger Taylor, Slash, Joe Perry, Steven Tyler, Jack White and Tony Iommi), an award presentation to Page and a short speech by him. After this, rock group Wolfmother played a tribute to Led Zeppelin. During an interview for the BBC in connection with the induction, Page expressed plans to record new material in 2007, saying: "It's an album that I really need to get out of my system ... there's a good album in there and it's ready to come out" and "Also there will be some Zeppelin things on the horizon."


title: Jimmy Page

text: On 10 December 2007, the surviving members of Led Zeppelin, as well as John Bonham's son, Jason Bonham played a charity concert at the O2 Arena London. According to "Guinness World Records 2009", Led Zeppelin set the world record for the "Highest Demand for Tickets for One Music Concert" as 20 million requests for the reunion show were rendered online. On 7 June 2008, Page and John Paul Jones appeared with the Foo Fighters to close the band's concert at Wembley Stadium, performing "Rock and Roll" and "Ramble On". On 20 June 2008, at a ceremony at Guildford Cathedral, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Surrey. For the 2008 Summer Olympics, Page, David Beckham and Leona Lewis represented Britain during the closing ceremonies on 24 August 2008. Beckham rode a double-decker bus into the stadium, and Page and Lewis performed "Whole Lotta Love".


title: Jimmy Page

text: In 2008, Page co-produced a documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim entitled "It Might Get Loud". The film examines the history of the electric guitar, focusing on the careers and styles of Page, The Edge and Jack White. The film premiered on 5 September 2008 at the Toronto International Film Festival. Page also participated in the three-part BBC documentary "London Calling: The making of the Olympic handover ceremony" on 4 March 2009. On 4 April 2009, Page inducted Jeff Beck into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Page announced his 2010 solo tour while talking to Sky News on 16 December 2009.


title: Jimmy Page

text: In January 2010, Page announced an autobiography published by Genesis Publications, in a hand-crafted, limited edition of 2,150 copies. Page was honoured with a first-ever Global Peace Award by the United Nations' Pathways to Peace organisation after confirming reports that he would be among the headliners at a planned Show of Peace Concert in Beijing, on 10 October 2010.


title: Jimmy Page

text: On 3 June 2011, Page played with Donovan at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The concert was filmed. Page made an unannounced appearance with The Black Crowes at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in London on 13 July 2011. He also played alongside Roy Harper at Harper's 70th-birthday celebratory concert, in London's Royal Festival Hall on 5 November 2011.


title: Jimmy Page

text: In November 2011, British Conservative MP Louise Mensch launched a campaign to have Page knighted for his contributions to the music industry. In December 2012, Page, along with Plant and Jones, received the annual Kennedy Center Honors from President Barack Obama in a White House ceremony. The honour is the U.S.'s highest award for those who have influenced American culture through the arts. In February 2013, Plant hinted that he was open to a Led Zeppelin reunion in 2014, stating that he is not the reason for the band's dormancy, saying "Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones are quite contained in their own worlds and leave it to [him]", adding that he is "not the bad guy" and that he has "got nothing to do in 2014."


title: Jimmy Page

text: In 2013, Page (with Led Zeppelin) was awarded a Grammy Award "Best Rock Album" for "Celebration Day".


title: Jimmy Page

text: In May 2014, Page was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Berklee College of Music in Boston. In a spring 2014 interview with the BBC about the then forthcoming reissue of Led Zeppelin's first three albums, Page said he was confident fans would be keen on another reunion show, but Plant later replied that "the chances of it happening [were] zero." Page then told "The New York Times" that he was "fed up" with Plant's refusal to play, stating "I was told last year that Robert Plant said he is doing nothing in 2014, and what do the other two guys think? Well, he knows what the other guys think. Everyone would love to play more concerts for the band. He's just playing games, and I'm fed up with it, to be honest with you. I don't sing, so I can't do much about it", adding, "I definitely want to play live. Because, you know, I've still got a twinkle in my eye. I can still play. So, yeah, I'll just get myself into musical shape, just concentrating on the guitar."


title: Jimmy Page

text: In July 2014, an "NME" article revealed that Plant was "slightly disappointed and baffled" by Page in ongoing Led Zeppelin dispute during which Page declared he was "fed up" with Plant delaying Led Zeppelin reunion plans. Instead, Plant offered Led Zeppelin's guitarist to write acoustically with him as he is interested in working with Page again but only in an unplugged way.


title: Jimmy Page

text: In September 2014, Page – who has not toured as a solo act since 1988 – announced that he would start a new band and perform material spanning his entire career. He spoke about his prospects for hitting the road, saying: "I haven't put [musicians] together yet but I'm going to do that next year [i.e. 2015]. If I went out to play, I would play material that spanned everything from my recording career right back to my very, very early days with The Yardbirds. There would certainly be some new material in there as well ...".


title: Jimmy Page

text: In December 2015, Page was featured in the two-hour long BBC Radio 2 programme "Johnny Walker Meets", in conversation with DJ Johnny Walker. In October 2017, Page spoke at the Oxford Union about his career in music.


title: Jimmy Page

text: Page is widely considered, by both musical peers and guitarists, one of the greatest and most influential guitarists. His experiences in the studio and with the Yardbirds were key to the success of Led Zeppelin in the 1970s. As a record producer, songwriter and guitarist, he helped make Zeppelin a prototype for countless future rock bands and was one of the major driving forces behind the rock sound of that era, influencing a host of other guitarists.


title: Jimmy Page

text: Guitarists influenced by Page include Eddie Van Halen, Ace Frehley, Joe Satriani, John Frusciante, Kirk Hammett, Joe Perry, Richie Sambora, Slash, Dave Mustaine, Mick Mars, Alex Lifeson, Steve Vai, Dan Hawkins, and Char, among others. John McGeoch was described as "the new wave Jimmy Page" by "Mojo" magazine.


title: Jimmy Page

text: Queen's Brian May told "Guitarist" in 2004: "I don't think anyone has epitomised riff writing better than Jimmy Page—he's one of the great brains of rock music."


title: Jimmy Page

text: For the recording of most of Led Zeppelin material from Led Zeppelin's second album onwards, Page used a Gibson Les Paul guitar (sold to him by Joe Walsh) with Marshall amplification. A Harmony Sovereign H-1260 was used in-studio on "Led Zeppelin III" and "Led Zeppelin IV" and on-stage from 5 March 1971 to 28 June 1972. During the studio sessions for "Led Zeppelin" and later for recording the guitar solo in "Stairway to Heaven", he used a Fender Telecaster (a gift from Jeff Beck). He also used a Danelectro 3021, tuned to DADGAD, most notably on live performances of "Kashmir".


title: Jimmy Page

text: Page also plays his guitar with a cello bow, as on the live versions of the songs "Dazed and Confused" and "How Many More Times". This was a technique he developed during his session days. On MTV's "Led Zeppelin Rockumentary", Page said that he obtained the idea of playing the guitar with a bow from David McCallum, Sr. who was also a session musician. Page used his Fender Telecaster and later his Gibson Les Paul for his bow solos.


title: Jimmy Page

text: Gibson released a Jimmy Page Signature Les Paul, discontinued in 1999, then released another version in 2004, which was also discontinued. The 2004 version included 25 guitars signed by Page, 150 aged by Tom Murphy (an acknowledged ageing "master") and 840 "unlimited" production guitars. The Jimmy Page Signature EDS-1275 has been produced by Gibson. Recently, Gibson reproduced Page's 1960 Les Paul Black Beauty, the one stolen from him in 1970, with modern modifications. This guitar was sold in 2008 with a run of 25, again signed by Page, plus an additional 500 unsigned guitars.


title: Jimmy Page

text: In December 2009, Gibson released the 'Jimmy Page "Number Two" Les Paul'. This is a re-creation of Page's famous "Number Two" Les Paul used by him since about 1974. The model includes the same pick-up switching setup as devised by Page, shaved-down neck profile, Burstbucker pick-up at neck and "Pagebucker" at the bridge. A total of 325 were made in three finishes: 25 Aged by Gibson's Tom Murphy, signed and played by Page ($26,000), 100 aged ($16,000) and 200 with VOS finish ($12,000).


title: Jimmy Page

text: In 2019, Fender released two signature models, both based on Page's 1959 Telecaster (which he received as a gift from Jeff Beck):