Leopard 2A6

The Leopard 2 is a main battle tank developed by Krauss-Maffei in the early 1970s for the West German Army. The tank first entered service in 1979 and succeeded the earlier Leopard 1 as the main battle tank of the German Army. Various versions have served in the armed forces of Germany and twelve other European countries, as well as several non-European nations. More than 3,480 Leopard 2s have been manufactured. The Leopard 2 first saw combat in Kosovo with the German Army and has also seen action in Afghanistan with the Danish and Canadian contributions to the International Security Assistance Force.

The 2A6 variant includes the addition of the Rheinmetall 120 mm L55 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 also purchased 37 Leopard 2A6 from the Dutch in 2007, with delivery in 2008.

The Leopard 2A6M is a version of the 2A6 with enhanced mine protection under the chassis, and internal enhancements to improve crew survivability. Canada has borrowed 20 A6Ms from Germany for deployment to Afghanistan in late summer 2007. The new tanks all have turret electric drive.

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, originally expected to be the new air conditioning unit but instead likely contains Canadian Forces designated communications gear (as they lined up with the new antennae stands), and stand-off slat armour. The first tanks configured in this variant are the twenty tanks loaned from the German Bundeswehr, in an effort to increase firepower and to increase protection given to Canadian troops operating in the south of Afghanistan. The loaner tanks are expected to retain their German MG3 machine guns, while the ex-Dutch tanks are expected to retain their FN MAG machine guns due to commonality with existing Canadian stocks. 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 (instead, the crew wore cooling vests, and the turret's electric drive generates less heat than the hydraulic drive of Canada's older Leopard C2). The loaned German tanks will now be kept by the Canadian Forces and may be upgraded even further, while the ex-Dutch Leopard 2A6's were modified to German Leopard 2A6M's specifications and used as restitution for the loaned tanks. Currently, Canadian Leopard 2's in Afghanistan have since been fitted with an air conditioning unit, and the Saab Barracuda camouflage mats which also serve to reduce solar loading by 50 percent.

Variants

 * 2A6
 * German Domestic Variant
 * 2A6M
 * Canadian Variant

Trivia

 * The use of the Leopard 2A6 by the Dutch Forces in Project Reality is somewhat anachronistic, as the Royal Netherlands Army disbanded the last of their tank units in May 2011.