I made a bug report concerning HE shells for the SXX1 and AZUR, here. 120 OE F1 would perform like the DM11 of the PSO (37mm of pen) but without the time fuze.
“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).
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.
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:
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