LEOPARD C1 MAIN BATTLE TANK
The Leopard C1 Tank is a medium sized combat tank. It is a full tracked vehicle with a turret that can be traversed through 3600 with hydraulic or manual control. The crew consists of four members; the commander, gunner and loader are located in the turret, while the driver's seat is at the front right hand side of the hull. The turret structure is fabricated from spaced armour steel plates and cast iron components welded together. The external shape is ballistically designed using armour steel plates at various angles. The armament consists of a 105mm main gun, 7.62mm co-axial machine gun, an anti-aircraft 7.62mm machine gun and 76mm smoke discharges. The main armament is electrically fired and has a provision for manual firing. The main gun also uses a laser sighting system to ensure accuracy. (year of manufacture '78 / '79 with a qty of 114). The welded hull is divided into the engine and crew compartments by both a gas and watertight firewall. The engine compartment houses the essential assemblies required to power the tank including the fuel tanks.
The Leopard combat tank is powered by a 610kW (830HP) multi-fuel engine transmitting its power to the power shift and steering transmission and, from there, via the final drives to the suspension. The engine, transmission and cooling system form and easily replaceable power pack. The heater system permits the heating of the crew compartment and the preheating of the engine (coolant and engine oil) and the vehicle batteries. Fire in the engine compartment if fought with by an automatic fire extinguisher system.
For protection against nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare, the tank is fitted with and NBC system. After a brief preparation, waters of up to 1.20 m in depth can be forded. When the deep fording equipment is mounted, waters as high as the turret's top edge (2.25m) can be forded. After mounting the deep fording shaft, deep fording is possible up to a depth of 4.00 m. Two electrically actuated bilge pumps drain off the bilge water.
CHARACTERISTICS
- Length: 8.17 m (gun at 6 o'clock)
- Length: 9.54 m (gun at 12 o'clock)
- Width: 3.37 m
- Height: 2.62 m
- Weight: 42.5 t
- Speed: 65 mph
- Range: 600 km
- Year Procured: 1978
- Quantity: 114
AMMUNITION TYPES
- Armour Piercing Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabot (APFSDS)
- Armour Piercing Discarding Sabot (APDS)
- High Explosive Squash Head (HESH)
- High Explosive Plastic (HEP)
- High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT)
- Smoke
VARIANTS OF THE LEOPARD
The Armoured Recovery Vehicle Taurus, the Armoured Engineer Vehicle Badger and the Armoured Vehicle Bridge Layer Beaver are variants of the Leopard.
