(BE) Leopard 1A5BE in the Heavy Cavalry Dev Server

Thomas_Belgium · June 8, 2026, 3:22pm

Leopard 1A5BE Dev Thread

With the introduction of the Belgian Leopard 1A5BE to War Thunder, this thread aims to serve as a central hub for documenting bugs, inaccuracies, missing features, and future fixes affecting the vehicle. As additional reports are submitted, acknowledged, and resolved, this post will be updated accordingly.

The Leopard 1A5BE represents an important part of the Belgian contribution to the BeNeLux subtree and differs from its German counterparts through its service history, ammunition selection, and national modifications like the FCS. Several bug reports regarding missing Belgian-produced ammunition have already been passed to the developers and are listed below.

Additionally, a poll will be included regarding the vehicle’s placement within the French ground forces tree. Currently, the Leopard 1A5BE is located in the Leclerc line; however, some players have suggested that it would be more logical for the vehicle to be placed behind the AMX-32 folder, continuing the same progression line that leads to the Dutch Leopard 2A4NL, Leopard 2A5NL, and Leopard 2A6NL. This would create a more coherent BeNeLux Leopard and French Export MBT progression within the tech tree while keeping the vehicle accessible at a similar rank and battle rating.

Feel free to contribute additional bug reports, historical information, documentation, screenshots, or suggestions related to the Leopard 1A5BE so they can be tracked and referenced in one location.

Polls at the end

Tech Tree Placement

Stat Card (non-spaded GRB)

Stat Card Realistic

Small Stat Card (spaded GRB)

Stat Card Realistic

N/A

Modifications

X-ray

X-ray Layout (stock, GRB)

Munitions

Current Munitions

Current ammunition available on the Leopard 1A5BE:

DM12 HEAT-FS
DM512 HESH
DM23 APFSDS
DM33 APFSDS

image2560×1072 120 KB

Missing Belgian Munitions

Belgian ammunition missing from the Leopard 1A5BE

M1060A1 APFSDS-T

M1060A2 APFSDS-T

M1060A3 APFSDS-T

The following Belgian-produced ammunition has been reported and passed to the developers:

M1001 APFSDS-T

Bug report passed to developers:
- Community Bug Reporting System

M1010 HE

Bug report passed to developers:
- Community Bug Reporting System

M1050 APFSDS-T

Bug report passed to developers:
- Community Bug Reporting System

M1060 APFSDS-T

Bug report passed to developers:
- Community Bug Reporting System

M1061 (M456A2) HEAT

Bug report passed to developers:
- Community Bug Reporting System

M393A2 HESH

Bug report passed to developers:
- Community Bug Reporting System

Current Leopard 1A5BE Bugs

Pending for Moderation

Acknowledged

Passed to Developers

Fixed

Closed

Expected Belgian Ammunition Progression

A possible historically representative ammunition progression for the Leopard 1A5BE would be:

Tier I (stock)

M1061 (M456A2) HEAT
M1010 HE

Tier I-II

M393A2 HESH
M1001 APFSDS-T

Tier III

M1050 APFSDS-T

Tier IV

M1060 APFSDS-T

The Leopard 1A5BE entered Belgian service with access to a variety of Belgian-produced 105 mm ammunition manufactured by Mecar. Several of these ammunition types are currently absent from the vehicle despite documentation confirming compatibility with the Royal Belgian Army’s Leopard 1 fleet.

The suggestion for more information regarding history:

Polls

Should the Leopard 1A5BE be moved behind the AMX-32 folder so that it shares the same progression line as the Dutch Leopard 2 variants?

Yes
No
Other (please comment)
No opinion

0 voters

Sebbo_the_Plebbo · June 8, 2026, 3:30pm

I agree it needs to be moved out of the Leclerc line - that line is for French in-service MBTs (and related prototypes) and seeing a Leopard 1 in there is frankly ridiculous.

It makes much more sense in the export/BeNeLux line, which will also free up space in the Leclerc line for the AMX-30C2 which is an absolute no-brainer addition.

StormRyder13 · June 8, 2026, 3:48pm

Hopefully, we see it got it’s domestic ammo before live. Would do extra in setting it apart.

And 100% it should be in the other line. Making the other MBT line the home for sub-nation and non-host used MBTs (export or otherwise), like what happened with the UK with its export/commonwealth line for dispersed sub-nations, really should be how they work.

SatanasNoDiabolo · June 8, 2026, 4:38pm

I hope we get the domestic ammunitions too, and that it gets in another line that the domestic MBT one. It can go to the one where there is already the NL Leopards

WalletWorrier · June 8, 2026, 4:44pm

I mean why not also move the AMX-32s to between the 30s and MAC

Thomas_Belgium · June 8, 2026, 4:53pm

They could, but as those are export MBT’s I think it’s fine, however an AMX-30C2 would be needed behind the AMX-30 folder in my opinion.

Константинович7 · June 8, 2026, 4:53pm

Leopard 1A5BE should be a very welcome addition to the game specially considering the performance of the AMX-32 at the same battle rating which is easily overshadowed by superior AMX-30 Super and the lack of better options at this battle rating line-up.

Nowel · June 8, 2026, 4:54pm

I mean you can easily relocate the entire 3rd line into the first 2 without any issues, and leave it for the benelux line

WalletWorrier · June 8, 2026, 4:59pm

Sure, but it’s also a domestic vehicle and not a foreign one. IMO it’d make the most sense to love the AMX-32s and -40 (and maybe even the AMX-50s and even lower) to the second line if there’s plans to include more BeNeLux tanks (which would all be in that third line)

BSpiel8-live · June 8, 2026, 5:19pm

Question, would this tank be eligible for the various M1060 variants of A1, A2, and A3? I noticed that there was no specific bug report on them so wasn’t sure if you were suggesting them as a family or if they didn’t see service in the first place.

Thomas_Belgium · June 8, 2026, 5:31pm

Potentially, yes. The M1060 included in my report is the baseline round of the M1060 family. The later A1, A2, and A3 variants were all in production by the early 2000s and were trialed on the Leopard 1A5BE by 2004. Their existence and testing on the platform were also confirmed during the 2008 Belgian Senate hearings.

However, while there is circumstantial evidence suggesting that the M1060A1, M1060A2, and M1060A3 may have been available to the Belgian Army, I currently do not have any primary or reliable secondary sources explicitly stating that these variants entered service or were operationally issued. As such, I limited the report to the baseline M1060, for which the documentary evidence is more concrete and easier to substantiate. If documentation confirming the service adoption of the later variants surfaces, they would certainly be worth investigating as potential additions.

A table of the M1060 development pipeline:

Year	Round	Status
Late 1980s	M1050	First-generation Belgian APFSDS-T after the M1001, specifically developed for the Belgian 1A5BE program.
Early 1990s	M1060	Successor to M1050, comparable to M900.
~1995	M1060A1	First documented improvement to the M1060 family.
Mid-to-late 1990s	M1060A2	Major improvement over the A1.
2004	M1060A3	Publicly unveiled by MECAR.
2004	M1060CV	High-pressure gun variant for Cockerill HP guns.
Late 2000s–2010s	M1060A4	Appears in later MECAR/Nexter/Cockerill marketing material as the newest evolution of the family.

ChieftainWarrior · June 8, 2026, 5:33pm

Slightly relevant: I was working on an expanded French TT proposal a while back (will eventually finish it and post here), and this is what I came up with for the Rank VI + VII MBTs:

Would be nice to see it given better ammunition and moved up. The model is very nice, but it’s a shame the characteristics are copy-paste from the German one.

Thomas_Belgium · June 8, 2026, 5:35pm

This proposal would definitely be the best option I’ve seen thus far!

OddPhenomena · June 8, 2026, 6:08pm

Oh to get even just one of these instead of accursed DM23 and DM33…

BSpiel8-live · June 8, 2026, 6:27pm

Gotcha, and if base M1060 is roughly comparable to M900, then wouldn’t the addition of it be justification to push the Leopard 1A5BE to 9.7? I would fully support this, but it would probably mean that the tank would follow after the AMX-32s rather than before as you put in your poll.

Thomas_Belgium · June 8, 2026, 6:31pm

Very much so, as you can also see in @ChieftainWarrior 's suggestion for an expanded French TT, it would likely go to 9.7-10.0 in terms of the current tanks at those BR’s. The M1060 is a very capable round that would have no issue against most vehicles seen at ranks VI and VII.

With “behind” I mean “after”, in Dutch “Achter” means both behind and after (although we also use “na”), this is my mistake, I should have included a visual.

Edit: Visual included:

panzerknoef · June 8, 2026, 6:43pm

Pushing the 1A5BE to 9.7 with better rounds would actually make it more unique and more of a help to the French tree. The 9.7 lineup needs to improved more so than 9.3 imo.

AspectOfTheRAGE · June 9, 2026, 1:30pm

Kinda wondering;
Do we have more data on SABCA SAIPH? (The Fire Control System / Thermal imager)

I have heard that it supposedly is a 2nd generation TVD but couldnt find anything specific.

I did find an IDR (post-janes aquisition & office-change) article on it however;

It is written by an author who is generally deemed as quite reliable though so…
Maybe there is a possibility that its accepted as source? It isnt one of Jane’s famously unreliable yearbooks afterall…

F-16D_Barak_II · June 9, 2026, 1:32pm

let’s be real, the only reason this was added was so it would be an extra RP speedbump for players grinding for the leclercs