The Leclerc was first introduced to War Thunder in the 1.89 “Imperial Navy” update in 2019. Over the past seven years, other nations have continuously received newer and more capable MBTs, while France is still relying on vehicles with a level of performance that is largely comparable to the Leclerc S1 from seven years ago.
At this point, the Leclerc is struggling to remain competitive at top tier. Its weaknesses in protection are extremely significant and, in many situations, unavoidable. Although its mobility statistics are relatively good on paper, its steering and maneuverability feel excessively sluggish, making it difficult to take full advantage of its mobility. Its firepower is still decent, but it cannot compensate for its major disadvantages in other areas.
I hope Gaijin can consider improving the Leclerc, either by giving it access to a more modern APFSDS round and addressing its steering/maneuverability issues, or by introducing a newer French MBT to properly address France’s current disadvantage in top-tier ground forces.
France has been waiting for a truly competitive top-tier MBT for a long time, and I hope this situation can finally be addressed.
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Something France doesn’t have until next gen mbts/large caliber mbts
Leclerc main battle tank is the kind of tanks that can’t be improved in-game because they’re not improved in real life. I personally think that Leclerc main battle tank is fine, still to understand the reason to add the Leopard 2s but whatever—mega filler. Leclerc XLR (latest modification of the main battle tank) won’t improve a whole lot until KNDS France presents an active protection system for the platform, the protection will only rely on explosive reactive and modular armor. If only, the Leopard 2A8 would be the best option to put France again on the “top tier Meta” as you say. Vehicle being bad for the most part is a subjective topic, I personally find the Leclerc main battle tank good because mobility and firerate is the primary advantage of this vehicle. A Jane’s Magazine publication indicated that Dutch secretary of defence signed an agreement on ±40 Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks.
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yes, but thats only for the future.
until they actualy get them handed over they wont be added
Please don’t remind me…
We used to have 800+ Leopard tanks.
We reduced it to 100 or less, then sold those few remaining tanks off to mainly Canada for next to nothing, instead of just keeping them in storage for a fraction of the cost of purchasing new-built Leopard 2A8’s.
Now we’re of course spending billions on said 2A8’s, and we’re only getting enough of them to last about 2-4 weeks of high intensity combat…
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Leclerc XLR with proper Hyperbar system modeling, turret armor, and SHARD Mk 1
so drop leclerc in BR heavily to 12.0 to match M1A2
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not true, leclerc mobility is way better irl
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Whether a vehicle is strong is indeed a subjective assessment, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make some objective evaluations. For example, the French Leclerc—at the same battle rating, the Leopard 2A6NL has significantly higher K/D and K/R ratios than the Leclerc. And the Leopard is generally not considered a strong contender in discussions about top-tier performance. From this, we can get a glimpse of whether the Leclerc is actually strong.
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Can be said for basically all MBTs making that useless and the m1a2 is just undertiered
Moreover, as I said before, the Leclerc has remained unchanged for seven years while its opponents have kept getting stronger. The opposition has gone from the M1A1 and T-80U to the M1A2C and T-80BVM. If the Leclerc wasn’t considered overwhelmingly powerful even seven years ago, I don’t think it can still hold its own at the current top tier.
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No, the Abrams—even if it has been nerfed to some extent—is still a very powerful tank. It is almost a complete direct upgrade over the Leclerc, and that cannot be used as a reason not to buff the Leclerc.
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not equally, no.
and leclerc is overtiered
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Drop the S1/S2 to 12.0, and give the S21/AZUR their proper armor as well as SHARD. S1’s armor is overperforming, so if its necessary, it could go down further.
SHARD would look like this:
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i still love how you guys take numbers out of nowhere cause the required data is not known besides an old source statement its x% better
only thing known is 984mm penetrator length and the velocity,
Had a pretty much similar thought as well. Give S.XXI and Azur SHARD, move the others down.
This might even allow Gaijin to finally introduce a true top tier premium for France at 12.0, maybe a S.1 with some cosmetic changes.
Later on they could move both the Abrams (Click-and Goonbait) and Leclerc to 12.3 when we finally get some kind of decompression to at least 13.0/13.3.
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Chinese top tier MBTs are in way worse situation than the Leclerc
The Leclerc should actually have a top speed of 90km.
Still waiting for the Snail to fix this even though the bug report is 3 years old…
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Most minor nations’ MBTs should be dropped to 12.0 like the Merkava Mk.4, Leclerc, and Ariete. I imagine that many Chinese MBTs are in a similar spot as well.
A link would be appreciated.
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i love how you do not point out, that the report is not accepted
specialy mulatu the creator of the report is known to actively, nefariously misinterpret and skew sources to his benefit
