Leopard 2A4

Leopard 2A4

Leopard 1A5

Leopard 2A5

Leopard 2A4

Leopard 1A5

Leopard 2A5

Germany

VII Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
10.7	10.7	10.7

Class:

Medium tank

Research:300 000

Purchase:830 000

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This page is about the medium tank Leopard 2A4. For other uses, see Leopard (Family).

Description

The Leopard 2A4 is a Rank VII German medium tank with a battle rating of 10.7 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.79 "Project X".

General info

Survivability and armour

The armour protection on the Leopard 2A4 can be described as "decent" with the essential areas covered but not much more. While the turret cheeks are well protected against both kinetic (~400mm equivalent, sloped) and chemical (~620mm equivalent, sloped) rounds, the upper frontal plate of the chassis will generally not stop an APDSFS (~150mm equivalent, sloped) round from any of its competitors, but will prevent most chemical rounds from penetrating (~520mm equivalent, sloped). However, the lower front plate is even more vulnerable (280mm equivalent vs HEAT and, 150mm equivalent vs kinetic projectiles, both sloped). Like in the case of its competitors, the turret ring is unprotected and so are the hull sides. While the cannon breech is also lacking in protection, it is not completely absent.

The four crew members are tightly packed with the driver, gunner and commander all forming a line on the starboard side of the tank, making them easy to eliminate in one hit if the Leopard 2A4 is facing the enemy with its hull and turret aligned towards it, thus knocking out the tank. The ammo rack of the tank is positioned in front on the port side, and makes for an easy target. This disadvantage can be easily negated by simply using cover to engage in a hull-down position. There is also a ready-rack at the back of the turret, with blow-out panels to prevent the detonation of the ready-rack from destroying the vehicle (note that FPE must be researched in order for the ammo burnout to be put out).

The armour protection is generally enough if you wish to engage in a long range style of combat as shells will deviate ever so slightly from their predicted path, giving your armour a chance of absorbing them without much damage to be received, though the same can not be said if you wish to engage in fast paced urban combat where shells will land precisely where aimed and enemies will generally attack your sides.

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	35 mm (53-82°) Upper glacis 40 mm (50-51°) Lower glacis 30 mm (82°) Driver's hatch	10 mm (5°) Upper hull 35 mm (0°) Lower forward hull 20 mm (0°) Lower rear hull 5 mm (0°) Side Skirts 100 mm (0°) Composite screening	20 mm (12-50°) All rear	20 mm (0-8°) Hull roof incl. engine deck
Turret	35 mm (0-6°) Cheeks incl. Gunner optics 35 mm (1°) Mantlet 120 mm Rear Mantlet Plate	35 mm (0°) Forward 15 mm (0°) Rear	10 mm (10°) Basket 20 mm (70°) Turret underside	40 mm (82-85°) Forehead Armour 14 mm (72-77°) Forward sides 20 mm (89°) Rear turret incl. cupolas 5 mm (84°) Basket
Composite armour	Front		Sides
Hull	Upper+Lower glacis90 - 350 mm Kinetic 243 - 600 mm Chemical		N/A
Turret	Turret cheeks420 - 800 mm Kinetic 535 - 820 mm Chemical Gun mantlet 100 - 270 mm Kinetic 300 - 480 mm Chemical		Side armour194 - 260 mm Kinetic 280 - 400 mm Chemical

Mobility

Mobility characteristic
Weight (tons)	Add-on Armour weight (tons)	Max speed (km/h)
56.0	N/A	79 (AB)
		72 (RB/SB)
Engine power (horsepower)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	2,032	____
Realistic/Simulator	1,327	____
Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	36.29	__.__
Realistic/Simulator	23.70	__.__

Armaments

Main armament

120 mm Rheinmetall L44
Capacity			Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance	Stabilizer
42			-9°/+20°	±180°	Two-plane
Turret rotation speed (°/s)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
Arcade	38.08	52.71	64.00	__.__	75.29
Realistic	23.8	28.0	34.0	37.6	40.0
Reloading rate (seconds)
Stock	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
7.80	6.9	6.4	__.__

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration in mm @ 0° Angle of Attack
		10m	100m	500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
DM12	HEATFS	650	650	650	650	650	650
DM13	APFSDS	393	390	384	376	367	359
DM23	APFSDS	410	408	401	393	384	376

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity in m/s	Projectile Mass in kg	Fuse delay in m:	Fuse sensitivity in mm:	Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent):	Normalization At 30° from horizontal:	Ricochet:
								0%	50%	100%
DM12	HEATFS	1,140	13.5	0.0	0.1	1,640	+0°	65°	72°	75°
DM13	APFSDS	1650	4.44	N/A	N/A	N/A	+1.5°	76°	77°	78°
DM23	APFSDS	1640	4.3	N/A	N/A	N/A	+1.5°	78°	80°	81°

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the Leopard 2A4.

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	Visual discrepancy
42	16 (+26)	1 (+41)	no

1st rack empty: 16 (+26)

2nd rack has blowout panels

Machine guns

7.62 mm MG 3A1
Pintle mount
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
2,000 (1,000)				1,200	-8°/+20°	±120°
Coaxial mount
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
4,500 (1,000)				1,200	N/A	N/A

Usage in battles

When stock, the HEATFS round will help you pick enemies from a distance, thus avoiding taking damage as you will have no Parts nor FPE, but will not be enough against some tanks like the M1 Abrams and the T-80B; T-64B when these tanks are equipped with add-on ERA. This becomes less of a problem once you have unlocked kinetic shells.

The vehicle, like most of its own league, can be played as a sniper tank due to its excellent optics, or in an urban environment thanks to its powerful engine, high top speed and acceleration and potent top shell which allows quick, but deadly snapshots.

Notable enemies are, on one hand, the IPM1 and M1 Abrams which are almost completely immune to your stock HEAT round, but have a weak turret ring and the Russian MBTs which can equip add-on armor in order to negate the effects of an initial HEAT shell, subsequent penetration is generally possible after the ERA blocks have been detonated; ERA blocks are negated by the use of APDSFS ammunition, notably the DM23 vs T-80B while the DM13 will be enough for all of the others, given a chassis hit.

Modules

Tier	Mobility	Protection	Firepower
I	Tracks	Parts	Horizontal drive, DM13
II	Suspension, Brake System	FPE	Adjustment of Fire
III	Filters	Crew replenishment	Elevation mechanism, Smoke grenade
IV	Transmission, Engine		Artillery support, DM23, Laser rangefinder

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Powerful engine, high top speed and acceleration - turns very easily on the spot
• High scope magnification for long range operations
• Flat-shooting gun with high velocities allows easy long range shots without much adjustment necessary
• Potent selection of ammunition - good HEATFS and very good APFSDS
• Effective turret armour, capable of tanking hits from the front and bouncing side shots

Cons:

• Hull armour leaves much to be desired
• The stock DM12 HEATFS is soaked up by enemy tanks with ERA blocks, meaning you need to shoot the ERA away then follow up with a new shot
• The gunner's optics are a weak spot, enemies who know how to aim can cripple your gun and kill your crew
• Can be easily ammo racked - carrying only 16 rounds eliminiates this, but at the cost of a severely reduced ammo count
• Difficult stock grind, sluggish and not very agile in the beginning
• Next to no anti-air capability, can not reliably eliminate attacking helicopters except with the 120 mm cannon

History

Based on the testing results gathered from the various different Leopard 2K prototypes, a new Leopard 2 prototype was constructed that would be more representative of the final version of the vehicle. Designated as Leopard 2AV, the new prototype featured a redesigned hull and turret over the Leopard 2K. Furthermore, the prototype was tested with two different cannons; the British L7 105mm rifled and the German Rheinmetall 120mm smoothbore cannon.

In 1976, the Leopard 2AV was sent overseas to the United States to be comparatively tested against the new American state-of-the-art XM1 Abrams. During testing, the Leopard 2AV proved itself as a good counterpart to the Abrams, outperforming its competitor in terms of fire accuracy, whilst demonstrating somewhat inferior protection and gun handling. Upon arriving back to its homeland with positive testing results, the decision was made to begin mass production of the Leopard 2 in 1977.

The production version Leopard 2, however, differed from the AV prototype in receiving an increased level of protection before mass production began. Mass production of the Leopard 2 started in 1979 with the Leopard 2A0 forming the first batch that would enter service with the German Bundeswehr in late 1980.

Throughout the production period of the early Leopard 2 versions, modernization and upgrades were being applied on the assembly line in order to keep the newest Leopards up to the latest standards. These modernization efforts mostly involved the upgrading of internal modules such as the aiming and communications systems. As a result of this, all early Leopard 2s (A0-A4) were visually neigh identical to each other. The Leopard 2A4 was the final early Leopard 2 variant before the more advanced and heavily upgraded subsequent Leopard 2 versions made their appearance as part of a new wave of modernization efforts.

A total of 695 Leopard 2A4s were built out of the total of 2.125 early Leopard 2s that were manufactured between 1979 - 1991. The Leopard 2 and its variants served primarily with the German Bundeswehr, but a number of export vehicles were sold to nations world-wide, ranging from Canada and Chile, over Denmark and Austria to Greece and Turkey to name a few.

-From Devblog

Media

Leopard 2A4 Tank Review - War Thunder (AB)
-By NUSensei

See also

• Leopard 2K - Preceding vehicle
• Leopard 2A5 - Succeeding vehicle

External links

• [Devblog] Leopard 2A4: Setting The Standard