Slovakia received the first Leopard 2 tank

Slovakia received the first Leopard 2 tank as part of a reciprocal exchange with Germany and Slovakia.

Militarnyi, citing Julian Röpcke, a German journalist, reported about this.

In total, Slovakia should receive 15 Leopard 2A4 tanks from Germany.

Slovakia received the first Leopard tank this year; the rest should be sent next year. Jaroslav Naď, Slovak Defense Minister, said that the cost of equipment that will be transferred to the country exceeds 100 million euros.

Along with tanks, spare parts should arrive and personnel training will take place. According to German representatives, the tanks were overhauled and modernized before being sent to Slovakia.

Militarnyi has already reported that as part of this “circular exchange,” the Armed Forces of Ukraine received 30 BMP-1 tracked infantry fighting vehicles from Slovakia.

Slovak BMP-1s were transferred from the Slovak army’s reserves. This armored vehicle was withdrawn from the use of Slovak troops and was in storage.

Leopard 2А4

The Leopard 2 is a German main battle tank produced by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann. This tank is the most common among NATO states. Over the entire time of production, more than 3200 tanks of this type with various modifications were manufactured, operated worldwide.

Leopard 2А4 is a version of the German Leopard 2 tank manufactured in 1985 – 1987.

The tank underwent a major modernization and received significant changes at that time: a dramatic improvement in the armor protection of the turret, additional measures were taken to increase the survival of the crew, and a new fire control system was also installed. Due to the increase in the level of armor protection, the weight of the tank increased to 55 tons.

The turret and tank hull are welded. The combined armor of the third generation is used in the design of the armored hull and turret. The fighting compartment of the tank is sheathed from the inside with a Kevlar heel, which should stop secondary fragments in case of armor penetration.

Leopard 2А4 is equipped with a Rh-120 Rheinmetall 120mm 44-caliber long smoothbore gun. The main armament of German tanks are the DM43 armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot and the DM12 high-explosive anti-tank rounds. The Leopard 2 is equipped with MG 3 machine guns mounted coaxially. Another MG3 is in the turret mount above the loader’s hatch.

The tank is equipped with thermal imaging and infrared night vision sights. The commander has the PERI-R-12 panoramic periscope sight with a stabilizer. The tank commander can independently point the gun in case of failure of the gunner.