You could add this part from my comment here:
“Designing the first ever dismountable protection blocks in the world eases the Satory’s engineers work. For the Leclerc XXI, the technical approach consists of replacing the side passive blocks (NERA) for lighter reactive modules (ERA)”
Page 76 of “Modern tanks’ ballistic protection”, or “La Protection Balistiques des Chars Modernes” part of the “Trucks & Tanks Magazine, N°66, mars-avril 2018, ISSN:1957-4193”
Better penetration. Leclerc currently has the second worse penetration at top tier, being only slightly better than the Challenger 2s
Unfortunately, Leclerc firepower is within the realm of realism and there is not much that can be done in that aspect (aside from adding SHARD Mk.1). Contrary to the popular belief, DU APFSDS aren’t superior to WHA rounds in all instances.
DU offers a penetration advantage for low muzzle velocities, beyond those speeds uranium brittle nature becomes more evident in the performance. Take a look at the following graph:
Given that OFL F1 and F2 use the same penetrator (DM43) and their muzzle velocities are 1790m/s and 1740m/s, respectively; to expect a significant performance increase from F2 is a little too optimistic.
Original F2 saw limited production after safety concerns related to the DU used emerged. To this day, France main antitank rounds are OFL 120 F1 and 120 OFLE F1B; both with similar capabilities according to what is publicly known.
So, instead of focusing on a DOA round, we should focus on the penetrator itself (or SHARD Mk.1). DM43 is currently modeled as a 585mmx22mm (for comparison, DM53 is 685mmx22mm, M829A2 is 680mmx22mm and 3BM60 640mmx22mm). There are conflicting statements over the length of DM43 with some sources pointing at 600mmx23mm (with a 3% increase in penetration over current F1).
(Notice anti-ERA tip of DM53)
Hmmm…I thought the F2 would be an improvement once it was implemented, but if it is an improved version of the DM43, it is hard to expect much firepower.
Lowering the BR would be a balancing concern, and will the top French MBT remain the weakest…? At least I would like to see a 600mm+ shell like the Type10… It is very hard to have CAS, MBT and helicopters all below the second army performance…；；
fixing the ufp, titanium inserts in SXXI, and adding new rounds should be enough…
F2 is basically a du version of f1, cause you know, nuclear wastes are cheaper than tungsten. however OFLE F1B and Shard are also missing, and we don’t know much about their performances, only that they offer some sort of improvments (F1B most likely by a small margin, shard probably by quite a large margin)
If no better round is implemented, then its BR should be lowered. Even if the Challenger has worse pen, at least it has decent armour while the Leclerc has nothing going for it.
Right now, it feels like a 11.3 to me.
According to Nexter, SHARD Mk.1 offers a 20% performance improvement over older ammunition (F1 and F1B).
So expect penetration values similar (if not better) to DM73 (including anti-ERA capacity).
Now that you mention Type 10 APFSDS, Japan government published the general properties of it:
In-game muzzle velocity is 1780m/s, now, let’s compare it to Nexter values for F1B:
OFL F1B is underperforming, but is difficult to assess by how much. Americans produce DM43 under the name of KE-W A1 and offer us the following penetration comparison with base M829:
EDIT: DM33 for reference
Just give Leclerc sxxi its true turret rotation 40°/s it’s all i want
BuT sTaTiStIk
Great research. Honestly, if gaijin refuses to add the F2 despite the marginal improvement it would bring, I can’t imagine them adding a much more powerful round like the SHARD (which would be the best round in the game if I’m not mistaken).
I think our best chance for a buff would a reload buff or armor fix.
F2 would be a marginal improvement, i would rather see a nerfed SHARD to be honest… The reload is kind off a mixed bag, would rather see in this order turret rotation speed, armor, transmission and low speed fix and instead of the useless german carc the real camo used by france, its a shame we have the german one on frnehc vehicles
If they somehow add rank 8 for the ground forces (and if they add new tanks), it would be nice to see the XLR with the SHARD as it would basically be a nice add on, plus it would justify a rank 8…
Hmmm…I think somebody could ask General Dynamics/Nexter for information related to DM43 penetrator (KE-W A1/OFL 120 F1). Since DM43 is from the 90s shouldn’t be that secret anymore (in fact, the patent with all the details about M829A3 can be read for free here)
They have a contact section on the bottom; don’t know in Nexter case. Having the penetrator length and diameter should be enough to model F2 or improve F1 (currently is modeled as 585mm x 22mm)
That’s 100% about muzzle energy rather than perforation.
Btw, DM53 is 685x23mm
Quite useful, but still missing the length or diameter; counting pixels we could make an approximation, but good luck convincing the mods with that.
Your mention of DM53 made me notice something funny:
DM23: 360mm x 32mm
DM33: 510mm x 25mm
DM43: 585mm x 22mm
DM63: 685mm x 23mm
Somehow DM43 is thinner that DM53???
That’s an LKE II prototype from early 1990s. If you look at production DM53/63s, they’re much thicker, here’s an example:
It has been 3 weeks since my suggestion post about the Centre Europe cammi has been approved but it is still not visible too…
Thats a shame, i hope we would get it at some point
Seems like the Leclerc AZUR got the Challenger 2 TES/ M1a2 SEP/ Ariete PSO/ Merkava Mk.4 treatment with add on armor packaging that does nothing against any munitions it will reasonably see at the BR, fun.
