- Yes
- No
i would like to suggest the ULTIMATE Leclerc tank for the French tree. the Leclerc T4
the Leclerc T4 was a project of 1996, the concept of fitting a 140mm gun instead of the 120 mm wasn’t new. the purpose of this armament was simple, TAKE OUT SOVIET TANK IN A SINGLE SHOT. but with the fall USSR, the project was put on hold and was nearly dead. but a prototype was built and after the project was put on hold, the turret was stored and the hull was used for other needs.
Leclerc terminateur during the first trial in 1996
the project was revived in the year 2014, the reason for reviving the project is simple, the Russians had recently released a new generation of tanks and suddenly went ahead with the modern tanks used in the Western countries. the Leclerc T4, this time, wasn’t designed to take out Russian tank but rather test the 140mm gun to fit the Leclerc turret in the new Franco-German tank that shall replace both the Leclerc and Leopard II in the French and German armies. The future tank is, as for now, supposed to be a hybrid between the Leclerc and Leopard II and married both strengths. the highly reliable hull and engine of the Leopard II and the high-tech turret of the Leclerc. but the armament, for now, opposes resistance, the German Company Rheinmetall, and the French company, GIAT, both want to use their gun in the tank that is still in development.
To prove the efficiency of the 140mm gun from GIAT on the 50t tank and specifically the Leclerc turret, the French had revived the old project of Leclerc 140 which was so advanced in development from 1996, that the tank had already been built back them and the turret was still stored. French defense company GIAT, which subsequently transformed into Nexter, specifically developed an enlarged turret to house a gun of this caliber that France’s Arsenal de Bourges had developed. in 2015 Nexter reportedly reinstalled in onto a chassis that had belonged to a turretless Leclerc MARS armored recovery vehicle. in 2017, the tank was finally revealed to the public. The 140mm-armed Leclerc, with its enlarged turret, reportedly still requires two-piece ammunition, with the shell separate from the propellant. Even then, it can only hold 31 rounds, nine fewer than the standard version of the tank.
the tanks as of right now are still on trial and would likely never be put into service (unless the Franco-German tank project split up again like the Europanzer/Standardpanzer in the 50s) but the turret is working well with the 140mm gun. the firepower was (according to the official source) improved by 70% over the 120mm gun normally used. the tank was used in the shooting rank with fairly success while there was a problem spotted. mostly around the automatic reloading system which was a regular reloading system designed for the 120mm gun but lightly modified to have 140mm shells.
on the right: 140mm shell used in the Leclerc 140
on Left: 120mm shell like those used in the regular Leclerc
the nickname ‘‘le Terminateur’’ (the terminator) comes from the original tank to be tested in 1996, the french are traditionally used to provide nicknames for their tanks just like we do for the ship (ex: USS Enterprise) the prototype was named terminateur which was written clearly on the turret side and was the most obvious details on the picture from the 90s. the turret on the prototype 2015 was the same but the chassis was another one. the name still sticks to the new prototype.
Firepower
the armament of this tank is much more powerful than the 120m. This is due to the extra power of the large caliber. only the exact performance is still classified. it was said to improve by 70% the performance. I put there a raw calculation, taking the 120mm penetration and just giving it a 70% buff. this should give it a decent guesswork until more information is released. as most of the information is classified, it’s about all we can hope for.
- night vision
- laser rangefinde
- thermal imager
- autoloader
Mobility
the tank weight will be fairly heavier than the Regular leclerc. but it will remain to have excellent mobility. the weight has been estimated to be around 57.4 tonnes, it was powered by a 1500 hp engine. basically, all the mechanical parts that are related to the mobility are the same as the Leclerc S1 & S2. This makes it mostly just slower to accelerate.
Protection
the exact protection is still classified. and will be for a long while. currently, we have the Leclerc S1 ingame with a “guessed armor” that puts it in a decent place in terms of protection even if some may not agree about the real performance it should have. As long it is not declassified, the armor would be just guessed with a placeholder. the hull wasn’t modified at all to get better armor. the turret however is different. outside the storage box, the turret seems to be close to the S2 level. I guess we could make it share the same value until it is known what armor it had for the needs of the game.
the tank also features a few advanced devices.
- smoke launcher (10x rounds)
- composite armour
- era armour
it is to be noted that this tank does not have the LWS antenna which suggests it does not have it.
the crew of 3 men is a bit small. it will reduce the time to repair and the survivability in case of a hit.
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