Tbf, I would probably prefer the Leo 1A4 instead of the A3. The A4 could bring thermals wich the A3 doesn’t. This doesn’t mean, that a A3 can’t be added. It may could be a premium tank for GJ to make more money without anyone complaining :D
The 1A4 would definitely be a higher br than the 1A3. The main point of the 1A3 would be to give Germany a much-needed stabilized 8.3 MBT to compete with the M60A1, T-55A, Vickers Mk 3, etc.
if anything the 1A4 would make more sense as a premium as it would be 8.7 alongside the existing A1A1
Leopard 1 A4 does not feature a thermal imager.
The sole differences to Leopard 1 A3 are the use of EMES12A1over TEM-2A, which is a sole stereoscopic rangefinder, compared to TEM-2A, which has both coincidence and stereoscopic rangefinding modes.
In addition, wheras TEM-2A has fixed 16x magnification, EMES12A1 has 8x to 16x magnification.
(May also not matter because gaijin made TEM-2A 8x-15.9x ingame anyway, likely by combining the 8x magnification of TZF-1A auxiliary sight and the 16x magnification of TEM-2A)
The other difference that would matter in-game is Leopard 1 A4 having PERI R12, which is fully stabilized and has 2x-8x magnification, wheras A3 uses TRP-2A which is unstabilized with 4x-20x magnification.
Leopard 1 A4 also used FLER-H fire control computer irl, which ingame wouldnt matter though.
Its literally the exact same but with a stabilized commander-sight (same one as on Leo 2K) and 8x-16x magnification over what should be fixed 16x magnification (but is 8x-15.9x ingame anyway)
I dont see a higher BR being justified for it tbh
If you want to get a rough idea of how it’d perform, think of a Leopard A1A1 but welded turret (or in other words: OF-40 Mk.2 but worse because no LRF, and lower traverse/elevation speeds)
we need a leo model at 8.3 this could work if it only has DM13 germany could have a proper 8.3 MBT
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Ammunition selection, mostly, because the later date of introduction ('74-'76 vs '73) would probably give it DM23 ('78). Plus, isn’t the FCS linked to the EMES-12A1, and would automatically range the gun? I forget what vehicle it is, but I believe there’s already some tank in-game with a stereoscopic rangefinder that auto-adjusts range as if it were a LRF for this same reason.
This should already be the case for all Leopards with TEM-2A, as the gunner already adjusts the distance during the rangefinding process (in stereoscopic mode).
Leopard 1 A4 differs to A3 by having FLER-H, which automatically applies lead after measuring the distance based on the movement of the gunner and continues said movement after a brief period; This allows the gunner to keep his crosshair on the target without having to manually lead himself,as said lead is calculated by FLER-H.
(Basically, like M1 Abrams, Leopard 2, etc. just with the difference that A4 doesnt have a independent LOS, nor a laser-rangefinder.)
These articles here explain it pretty well (use site-translation if you need to ig):
Leo 1 A2 (also applies to every other one except A4 and A5 minus the stabilizer in some cases):
https://kotsch88.de/f_leopard1.htm
Leo 1 A4:
https://kotsch88.de/f_leopard1a4.htm
Imo they should just add Leopard 1 A3 as a ‘lower-br option’ with DM 13 at 8.3 (though this might still be too low, but then again the entire BR range is compressed to incomprehensible levels, so perhaps something like Leopard 1 A2 or 1 A1 [not 1 A1A1] would be better options for that) and A4 at the same BR as A1A1 with DM 23.