The KF51, the tank that is called to succeed the Leopard in Europe

The six Leopard 2A4s sent by Spain to Ukraine are already in that country after passing through Poland. They were repaired and fine-tuned at the factory of the Santa Bárbara company in Alcalá de Guadaíra (Seville) and submitted to certification tests by the Army in Cerro Muriano (Córdoba).

The Spanish Leopards sent to kyiv are part of a batch of fifty that were withdrawn from service more than a decade ago and stored in Zaragoza. Our country also promised to send another four tanks that are now being repaired and could be ready by the end of June.

The Leopard 2 is a tank developed by Germany, which has produced it in series since 1978.. Since then the initial design has been regularly updated, so there have been many versions.. The most modern (the A7+) is at the level of the best and most advanced main battle tanks in the world.

According to the specialized publication Janes, up to 18 countries have active Leopard 2 tanks.. The Spanish Armed Forces have 347 Leopards, but of very different quality and condition. The most modern model is the 2A6, called here 2E, of which the Army has 239 units.

These tanks are distributed by the Extremadura (Botoa, Badajoz), Guadarrama (El Goloso, Madrid), Guzmán el Bueno (Cerro Muriano, Córdoba) and Aragón (Zaragoza) mechanized brigades.. Of the total, 219 are line cars, 16 for recovery and four for school, Infodefensa details.

But they are on their way to becoming obsolete, weapons experts say. Defense has no strategy to renew the Leopard tank park. And yet, if he ends up doing it, it is known what the replacement would be: the KF51 Panther.

A German private project

This is a main battle tank being created by Rheinmetall engineers and designers.. The KF51 is a private project, which is unusual, stresses the media Defensa.com. Its development was announced in June 2022 and the German company suggests that it could be ready for production in 2026.. At the moment, the German Government has already signed the purchase of 14 units.

Rheinmetall talks about “a game changer for future battlefields”

The initials KF are the abbreviation of the term KettenFahrzeug which means tracked vehicle and 51 refers to the fact that its weight range is in the order of 50 tons.. They would actually be about 59, as detailed by the company in the latest edition of the world's largest fair for the military industry, Eurosatory, held last June in Paris.

Rheinmetall highlights its mobility, based on the Leopard 2 although “much greater than current systems and has a maximum operating range of about 500 kilometers”. The German company hopes to produce “a game changer for future battlefields”, thanks to its “new standards in all areas: lethality, protection, reconnaissance, interconnection and mobility”.

The manufacturer claims to have “rethought the concept of the battle tank…. to go beyond the current tanks based on technologies of the 80s”

The vice president of main battle tanks of the company, Alexader Kuhrt, assures that they have decided to completely rethink the concept of the battle tank and that with the KF51 they intend to go beyond the current tanks still based on technologies from the 80s, according to the information collected by the European Defense Review.

Characteristics of a developing tank

Its chassis is based on the Leopard 2, but the turret design is different and aims to set a different course.. This turret is armed with a 130mm smoothbore Rheinmetall Future Gun System (FGS) main gun and automatic ammunition handling system with 20 ready rounds and a coaxial 12.7mm machine gun with an integrated weapon station controlled by remotely. Additionally, it can be equipped with the HERO 120 loitering ammunition system.

The KF51 Panther will have a greater reliance on active protection rather than passive. According to Janes, that will reduce their weight and make teaming with unmanned platforms easier by providing space inside the hull for a dedicated systems operator or unit commander.

It is a combat ingenuity that has little to do with those we were used to seeing until now”

“Some of these aspects define a combat ingenuity that has little to do with those that until now we were used to seeing, since an attempt is made to take a double step forward in terms of the concept that defines battle tanks. “, they say in Defensa.com of the new tank project. “It is perceived as a safe bet,” the publication notes.