- Yes
- No
History and introduction
The leopard 2 “improved” program was started in the late 1980s and into the early 1990s, featuring a large number of proposals to increase both the defensive and offensive capabilities of the Leopard 2 platform.
As the 1980s came to an end, the general consensus in the German Armed Forces was that an upgrade to the existing Leopard 2 design was more preferable as compared to designing a completely new vehicle. Because of this reason, many prototypes and other vehicles were rejected, some even at proposal stages. The decision was already made… The Leopard 2 would remain the main battle tank for the German Armed Forces in the future.
Now, the matter of increasing the vehicle’s combat capability remained. To that end, a program called Leopard 2 KWS (KampfWertSteigerung – combat value improvement) was undertaken.
The Leopard 2 KVT testbed was built in 1989 as part of this program. The leopard 2 KVT (for KomponentenVersuchsTräger – component trial vehicle) was built from the last Leopard 2A4 produced as part of the fifth production run (December 1985 to March 1987 comprising 370 vehicles in total) – Vehicle no.20825.
The tank was equipped with additional armour along the frontal arc of the hull and turret as well as the turret roof. As a result, the weight of the vehicle increased from the original 55 tons to 60.5 tons. This vehicle passed the trials however many of its features were never adopted, at least by the German Armed Forces. The vehicle was subsequently converted to the Leopard 2 IVT (InstrumentenVersuchsTräger – instrument trial vehicle), which was later used in testing additional technologies.
The research and insight gained from the Leopard 2 KVT project was used for the next step in the KWS program. This time, two eighth production run Leopard 2A4 vehicles (built in 1991, vehicle no. 11156 and 11157) were used. They were both referred to as Leopard 2 TVM (TruppenVersuchsMuster – troop trial testbed). The second vehicle especially (referred to as TVM MX) was upgraded with cutting edge electronics and, as a result, was proven to be a very expensive modification for the time.
Both the Leopard 2 TVM chassis were extensively tested between December 1991 and April 1992 in Aachen, however the fate of many of the defensive upgrades would not be adopted until much later. And even then, the upgrades themselves were not adopted as is, but were modified and even upgraded with the advent of new machining and composite armour production techniques.
Firepower
Fire system isn’t changed from times of leopard 2a4, so it is all known smoothbore gun RH-120 L/44
But also later on TVM-max was installed l/55 gun :
DM-63/A1 (post penetration incendiary effect)
DM-53/A1 (post penetration incendiary effect)
DM-43
DM-33
RH-31
DM-12A1
Protection
Protection of this Leopard is pretty similar to the STRV-122 series as uses it same the Mexas-H protection package all around.
Mobility
Engine : MTU MT 873 Ka-501 V-block 12-cylinder liquid-cooled diesel engine
Power : 1500 hp
Transmission : RENK HTWL 354, 4 speed forward/2 reverse
Top Speed : 68 km/h
Weight : 62 t
Power to weight : 24 hp/t
Suspension : Torsion bar
Sources
- Waffensysteme Leopard 1 und Leopard 2
- Leopard 2 sein Werden und seine Leistung
- Bundeswehr Leopard 2 MBT At 40 ~ Part 4 | Joint Forces News