Portuguese Army fleet of 37 Leopard 2A6 battle tanks needs to be upgraded

June 03, 2011 By VMSB DEFESA Global

The Portuguese Army (Exército Português) fleet of 37 Krauss-Maffei Wegmann GmbH & Co.KG Leopard 2A6 battle tanks needs to be upgraded with latest technologies in order to keep them as valuable assets to face emerging treats and battlefield scenarios.

The vehicles procured to Netherlands are former Leopard 2A4 battle tanks upgraded with the turret developed for the Leopard 2A6 standard.

Turkish company ASELSAN Elektronik Sanayi ve Ticaret AŞ has modified a Turkish Land Forces (Türk Kara Kuvvetleri) Leopard 2A4 to the new Leopard 2NG (Next Generation) upgraded standard.

As part of the Leopard 2NG solution, the company proposes several solutions including the integration of a advanced fire control system composed by the commander panoramic sight and gunner´s periscope and associated control, display and electronic units, a laser warning receiver system, a remotely controlled weapon station, IRDAM SA MAWS 6056B meteorological sensor, a inertial navigation system, electrical gun and turret drives, battlefield management system, a combat identification panel, a driver vision system composed of forward and rear thermal cameras and a rear CCD camera, smoke grenade launchers and as well as a fire suppression and extinguishing system for crew compartment, improved brakes, suspended seats and structural modifications.

The armoured protection suite comprises add-on mine protection modules and a ballistic add-on protection system (with turret, hull and roof protection, heavy track skirts, slat armor and the spall liner). The ballistic suite could be the AMAP (Advanced Modular Armour Protection) solution from German company IBD Deisenroth Engineering.

The Leopard 2NG is also equipped with an intercom system and the tactical communications system. The solution offered place the upgraded battle tank to a level far beyond the Leopard 2A6 version claim the Turkish company.

At IDEF 2011 international defence exhibition held in Istanbul between 10 and 13 May, the Leopard 2NG has been displayed equipped with ASELSAN Elektronik Sanayi ve Ticaret AŞ SARP (Stabilized Advanced Remote weapon Platform) remotely controlled weapon station.

The Turkish Army brought several former German Army (Deutsches Heer) Leopard 2A4 battle tanks. ASELSAN Elektronik Sanayi ve Ticaret AŞ has already upgraded 171 Turkish Land Forces Leopard 1 with Volkan fire control system under a contract awarded by the SSM (Savunma Sanayii Müsteşarlığı) defence procurement agency.

Leopard 2A4 is in service with several countries including Turkey, Spain, Singapore, Austria, Chile, Poland, Finland, Denmark and Sweden. Some of them have been upgraded or are to be upgraded soon.

In 2010, Krauss-Maffei Wegmann GmbH & Co.KG unveiled the Leopard 2A7+ and Rheinmetall Landsysteme GmbH the MBT Revolution which are both upgrades of Leopard 2 vehicles.