【LEOPARD1】德國將“豹1”坦克送上烏克蘭戰場，到底是軍事援助還是“丟棄垃圾”？|防護能力聊勝於無的“豹1”坦克，如何抵禦俄軍的T-90主戰坦克？

On April 12, Germany said it could provide Ukraine with 50 sealed "Leopard 1" tanks and 60 refurbished "Weasel" infantry fighting vehicles. Germany has almost become a laughing stock in Europe on the issue of military aid to Ukraine. Provided 2,700 Soviet -made anti-aircraft missiles equipped by the former East German army. Even the Western media ridiculed that "these outdated missiles may not be able to fire at all." Later, Germany announced the approval and provided Ukraine with 56 vehicles equipped with "artillery" and "machine guns" However , subsequent investigations revealed that what Germany approved to provide was actually Soviet -made BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles, which were also Soviet-made equipment from East Germany , and then successively handed over to Sweden and a Czech company . Ukrainian? Or put it in the warehouse and wait for it to be scrapped. If it can be sent out, it can save a part of the inventory cost. Today we will talk about the "Leopard 1" tank that has been retired in most countries and only used in a few countries . In the past and present , after World War II, Germany was disarmed as punishment . However, with the beginning of the Cold War, East and West Germany, which belonged to two camps, successively rebuilt the army. Due to the great destruction of German industry during World War II, and the forced conversion of military factories into civilian products So the rebuilding of both sides began with receiving aid. In January 1956, the United States provided 1,100 M47 medium tanks to the Federal Republic of Germany. In 1958, the United States exported 1,462 M48 medium tanks. However, in the eyes of the Federal Republic of Germany, the performance of American tanks was defective . The lack of numbers made the Germans think that it was necessary to develop a favorite tank by themselves. At the same time , France, the victorious country, was also facing the need to update the tank . The trophy "Panther" tank in the garage had long since been eliminated . The AMX50 heavy tank project was also dismounted. So they quickly noticed the German tank plan. In June 1957, the two sides reached a cooperation agreement and decided to cooperate in the development of a standard tank. It was planned that two German teams and a French team would complete the overall design of the tank. On July 25, the technical requirements were finalized. It weighs about 30 tons, has a ton power of 30 horsepower, and has an armor-piercing capability of 150 mm inclined armor. However, its own armor only needs to withstand the direct fire of 20 mm artillery shells . During the Cold War, the Soviet Army not only had an absolute advantage in the number of tanks, but also the Soviet IS3 heavy tank that appeared at the end of World War II has it. 110mm wedge-shaped body armor After ten years of development , there are good reasons to believe that Soviet tanks have thicker armor, so the standard of artillery power and ammunition load of new tanks cannot be lower, because Europe is large, but behind it is the English Channel and the ground of the European continent. The troops must hold on until the reinforcements of the US military arrive. At the same time, due to the development of chemical energy ammunition, the protective effectiveness of the homogeneous steel armor at that time has been greatly reduced. Since increasing the armor does not make much sense, simply reduce the armor. As long as you run fast enough, the enemy will not be hit, but the design works until Construction started in early 1958. Italy joined the plan in September. The second half of 1959 A full-scale model was launched in 2009, which was led by Borgward and designed a very advanced scheme . The three-person crew are all placed in the car body . The top of the car body is an unmanned weapon station . There is a 105mm and a 20mm gun, which is automatically loaded. What is even more outrageous is its driving method , which is a combination of wheels and tracks . This is a suspension method of early light tanks. It can run on both tires and tracks . The lifelong enemy of "Leopard 1" BT5 light tank is this kind of suspension. When using tires, it can drive. Reaching a speed of 70 km/h, it was considered a supercar in the tank world at that time, but the project was terminated in 1961 due to the Germans repeatedly proving that stacking new technologies inevitably leads to delays and the financial collapse of Borgward. January 1961 Design group A launched a prototype vehicle. Serial number A1 found that the 90mm gun was not powerful enough in subsequent tests. It was ready to be upgraded to 105mm. At that time, Rheinmetall was developing a 105mm tank gun . At this time, the British Royal Arsenal launched a 105mm rifled tank. The gun weighs about 1.3 tons and can penetrate more than 300 mm when firing shelling armor-piercing projectiles. It has a compact structure, light weight , diverse ammunition, and excellent accuracy . It is really a sharp weapon for squatting black guns . After the breech structure met the requirements of the 9° depression angle, it was finalized as the L7A3 and the B group's plan was due to the adoption of too many new technologies. Their prototype car B1 was not really available until September, but due to the stimulation of the second Berlin crisis, the military Feeling the urgency of updating the equipment and they think that the solution of Group B cannot be realized soon, let alone mass-produced to replace the existing tanks. Although the B1 performs better than the A1 under normal conditions in the comparative test, it may have experienced World War II. The Germans realized that the normal situation is the real scarcity. The best weapon against the "King Tiger" tank in those days may be the bombing of the aircraft , which is to curse him to fail quickly. Therefore , in May 1962, the military still approved the A1 prototype and hereby. On the basis of the improved A2 prototype, such as modifying the turret to better fit the L7A3 gun, increasing the armor protection to deal with the increasingly popular 30mm gun and the new Soviet weapons , but the increase in weight also reduces the mobility. On the basis of the A2 On the Federal Republic of Germany Ministry of Defense ordered 50 pre-production tanks At the same time , the French also launched their own scheme, and produced a prototype in 1962. The prototypes of both sides were tested in Münster. But before the test, the Federal German Parliament The National Defense Committee has decided to produce a tank equipped with a domestic design and named the tank "Leopard" on October 1, 1963. Later, after the "Leopard 2" project was launched, the domestic design was renamed "Leopard 1". After all, Germany's The plan progresses earlier and the purchase of domestic products can protect the country's arms industry. For the same purpose of protecting the country's arms industry, France withdrew from the cooperation plan and developed the AMX30 on the basis of the prototype, while Italy once again Jump out of the ship and withdraw from cooperation and purchase the American M60 main battle tank "Leopard 1" main battle tank. The body is welded with armored steel plates. The turret is placed in the middle. The front part is the crew compartment, and the rear part is the power compartment . There are shell storage racks, ventilation devices and three defense devices. The heating device is on the right side of the crew compartment. Above the driver 's seat , there is a cockpit cover on the roof armor plate of the hull. There are 3 periscopes in front of the hatch cover , and the middle one is available in the preparation room. Replaced with infrared or low-light periscope . Turret is a cast structure , hemispherical shape. The shield is long and narrow. It is located above the middle of the hull. There are 3 crew members in the turret . The commander is on the right side of the gun. On the top of the turret , the commander and the loader each have 1 hatch . A MB838CaM-500 diesel engine rated at 830 hp at 2200 rpm. The gearbox is a 4HP250 hydromechanical type with dual-flow dual-radius differential steering . The comprehensive transmission system has 4 forward gears and 2 reverse gears . The production quantity of "Leopard 1" is as high as more than 6,000. The main improved models are A1, A2 , A3, A4, and A5 . The improvement of A1 to A4 is smaller than that of A5. The magnitude is relatively large. In addition to the improvement and upgrading of electronic equipment, the focus is to upgrade the armor , modify the body, and add additional armor through bolts. Finally, the armor protection level has been raised to the average level of NATO. The "Leopard 1" series is mainly equipped with the Federal Republic of Germany , Australia, Belgium , Canada, Greece , Italy The Netherlands, Norway , Turkey and other countries did not participate in combat operations during the entire Cold War. In that tense era of daggers, a chariot placed on the front line did not participate in combat. It should be a blessing for human beings, but the Leopard family was launched by the Canadian Army. In the Silver Ring Cup tank competition, it has won many championships and won gold, silver and bronze. In contrast, the M1 tank of the United States has only won the championship once . The worse British Army not only did not have a gold medal, but continued to be at the bottom in the last few issues . It is said that the British shot bald a lot of barrels in order to win the championship . It is a sad story. After the end of the Cold War, the "Leopard 1" tank participated in the peacekeeping operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the war in Afghanistan. Although the armor of the "Leopard 1" is relatively weak in the peacekeeping operation However, the power of the 105mm main gun has provided strong support to the peacekeeping force in many operations. The "Leopard 1" of the Canadian Army in the Afghanistan War was not very active due to various reasons. Later , the new "Leopard 2" tank "Leopard 1 " was transferred. "In addition to conventional engineering vehicles, tank rescue vehicles and other models , there is also a very special "Cheetah" self-propelled anti-aircraft gun with a total combat weight of 46 tons . Due to the lengthened body, the total combat weight is even heavier than the "Leopard 1" main battle tank. The closed turret is installed in the center of the hull. The whole vehicle has a total of 3 people. The commander and the gunner are located inside the closed turret. Through the top of the turret, a long common hatch is used for access. The driver is located on the right front side of the hull. Equipped with two Oerlikon 35 mm caliber KDA cannon fire The control system includes search radar, tracking radar, fire control computer, auxiliary computer, optical sight, infrared tracking device, laser rangefinder, etc. It is suitable for continuous operations under various interferences. It has three defense capabilities . The price is high price . The main battle tank only needs 1.7 million marks , while the unit price of the " Cheetah " self-propelled anti-aircraft gun is as high as 5.4 million marks . Due to the limitation of the times, the "Leopard 1" is not the strongest tank, but the overall performance is still commendable . Under the defensive strategy of West Germany and even NATO The firepower and mobility of "Leopard 1" can meet the mobile defense of Soviet tank groups under the forward defense policy. It not only trained the design team through the development process, but also accumulated experience for the development of "Leopard 2". During the service period, it has regained its reputation for German tanks . Since the first batch of "Leopard 1" tanks were delivered to the West German army in 1965, it has been in service for more than 50 years . The total production number of various types has reached 6,485, of which 4,744 are main battle tanks . After 1990, the "Leopard 1" served in various countries. "Tanks began to gradually withdraw from the main position. Among them, the "Leopard 1" of the German Army began to be gradually retired after 2003, and the "Leopard 1" of Australia was officially retired in July 2007 . Replacement or upgrade However, due to the huge number of "Leopard 1" tank equipment and many modifications , there are still some tanks of this series still in service. The video of this issue is here. Please continue to pay attention to us . You can watch the latest video and browse past highlights . Welcome Leave a message in the comment area and see you next time