There are huge differences between the capabilities of individual tank rounds also when fired from the same gun. 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker December 28, 2022Īnother key aspect here is that when discussing tank guns, ammunition is often forgotten. #Ukraine: A Russian T-72A tank passing another of the type (A slightly less functional T-72B) somewhere in the East. The T-62 and T-64 are roughly of the same generation, and a lot of the T-72 running around are not the latest and greatest T-72B3M, but Cold War carry-overs. However, on the positive side, while the L7 is outdated, so are a lot of the potential targets on the battlefield in Ukraine. The 105 mm rifled has been gradually replaced in the West by 120 mm smoothbores as the main tank armament starting in the 80’s with the introduction of the Leopard 2. Once the finest tank gun of the west and fitted to a host of different tanks, it is by now (as are rifled 105 mm guns in general) outdated for tank killing. The prime example is the main armament: the legendary 105 mm Royal Ordnance L7 (M68 to you US tankers) which was responsible for the firepower-part of the original Leopard’s design. The bad news is that the Leopard 1 has not improved with age as the Cold War has faded into history. It wasn’t an overly successful concept and the Leopard 2 took a step back to a more balanced (and successful) concept. The Leopard 1 (known simply as ‘Leopard’ when it first entered service) was an attempt to push the Mobility – Firepower part of the performance triangle while sacrificing some of the Protection in the process.
Source: CMSGT Don Sutherland, USAF/Wikimedia Commons Forty years later, the tank seems set to fulfil the mission it was designed for – to exchange fire with Russian tanks invading a European democracy. The Leopard 1 as it once was, pictured in West German service during REFORGER/AUTUMN FORGE ’83. It is, however, in some ways what Ukraine needs. That is the case even if it is significantly older than the Leopard 2A6 and a step below the 2A4 when it comes to protection and raw firepower. The news that Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands will join forces to supply 100 Leopard1A5 is good news for Ukraine.
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