Germany unveils new tank to replace Leopard 2
The German company Rheinmetall at the Eurosatory-2022 exhibition in Le Bourget officially presented the new KF51 Panther tank.
“At the Eurosatory 22 arms fair in Paris, Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger presented the KF51 Panther, which is the legitimate successor to the Leopard 2 tank. Experts have long considered the world’s most powerful main battle tank, but the Leopard 2 is slowly aging,” the business newspaper reported. German daily Chandelsblatt.
The Kf-51 Panther is the newest member of the Rheinmetall family of armored combat vehicles. The main armament of the Kf-51 is a smoothbore barrel of 130 mm. The report did not release details about the features and characteristics of the new tank.
It was also not clarified whether it was a project independent of the company or was developed as part of the joint German-French MGCS (Main Ground Combat System) program to create a new main battle tank.
The MGCS program aims to replace the Leopard 2 and Leclerc tanks starting in 2035.
Leopard 2 has been developed since 1970, and the first production tank was delivered to the German army in 1979. By the beginning of 2015, more than 3,200 tanks of this type were produced; In 2017, 2,516 Leopard 2 units were used in various modifications. These tanks are in service with the armies of a number of NATO countries.
