Leclerc French Main Battle Tank

The French, their military history aside, actually are widely known in Europe for their innovative and solid armored vehicle designs. In the mid 1980′s, Britain introduced its Challenger 2 main battle tank, Germany rolled out the impressive Leopard 2, and the US unveiled its M1A1 Abrams tank. The world was being introduced to battle machinery that combined decades of design research and cutting edge electronics systems. Not wanting to be left behind, the French decided to join the party. They had initially planned on simply importing the German Leopard 2 tank, but after some cost forecasting and design speculation, these plans were rejected. Thus the French decided to design their own tank, and they specialized in different aspects of design from other Western tanks. In steps the GIAT industries Leclerc French Main Battle Tank.

The British Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank

The British Challenger 2 Main battle tank has several innovations unique to its design. One of the foremost innovations devised by the Brits is a type of armor known as Chobham armor, which is a layered matrix of steel and ceramics. In fact, incorporating layers of ceramic into steel has been a newer technique of strengthening steel, (the strongest knife blades are now layered steel and ceramics, because the ceramics provide an added measure of flexibility. The Chobham armor is known to perform especially well against HEAT (High explosive anti-tank) rounds. In one encounter in Iraq, one Challenger 2 was hit by 8 RPGs in close range and one MILAN anti-tank missile and managed to escape to be repaired. Another improvement currently being made to the Challenger 2 is the replacement of its 120 mm rifled cannon barrel with a smooth bore cannon, which will enable the Challenger to fire depleted uranium rounds among other more lethal ammunition developed by the US and Germany.

German Leopard 2 Main Battle Tank

Manufacturer:  Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW)