Difference between revisions of "Leopard 2A6"
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The {{PAGENAME}} retains almost the same mobility and exactly the same armor as Leopard 2A5. It does have a better gun with a better round. Yet, its playstyle remains the same. | The {{PAGENAME}} retains almost the same mobility and exactly the same armor as Leopard 2A5. It does have a better gun with a better round. Yet, its playstyle remains the same. | ||
− | * HULL-DOWN LONG DISTANCE COMBAT: | + | * '''HULL-DOWN LONG DISTANCE COMBAT:''' |
* The Leopard 2A6's turret is one of the hardest in the game to penetrate. But, it shares the same weakspot as any other vehicle at its BR - the mantlet area. It can also be destroyed by a well-aimed shot with an ATGM. | * The Leopard 2A6's turret is one of the hardest in the game to penetrate. But, it shares the same weakspot as any other vehicle at its BR - the mantlet area. It can also be destroyed by a well-aimed shot with an ATGM. | ||
* To eliminate the risk of getting penetrated in the gun mantlet, the use of commander's thermals which are at the roof are recommended for scouting the area without exposing the turret itself at all. Make sure to always enable Commander's fire control, so the turret itself rotates with the sight. When you spot a target, you can use the laser rangefinder whilst still being in commander's view, then switch to gunner's sight, quickly peek, eliminate the target and quickly reverse back behind cover. Your turret will be exposed for only around 2 seconds, giving your target very slim chances to retaliate. | * To eliminate the risk of getting penetrated in the gun mantlet, the use of commander's thermals which are at the roof are recommended for scouting the area without exposing the turret itself at all. Make sure to always enable Commander's fire control, so the turret itself rotates with the sight. When you spot a target, you can use the laser rangefinder whilst still being in commander's view, then switch to gunner's sight, quickly peek, eliminate the target and quickly reverse back behind cover. Your turret will be exposed for only around 2 seconds, giving your target very slim chances to retaliate. | ||
Line 174: | Line 174: | ||
* This strategy makes you more or less immortal. You can fight and win against multiple opponents at a distance. CAS and flankers can still kill you though. Watch your flanks. | * This strategy makes you more or less immortal. You can fight and win against multiple opponents at a distance. CAS and flankers can still kill you though. Watch your flanks. | ||
− | *CLOSE-QUARTERS COMBAT: | + | *'''CLOSE-QUARTERS COMBAT:''' |
*Use 3rd person view in close quarters, always. This gives you a much better situational awareness than 10 degrees of FoV in gunner's sight. Night battles are an exception, you can use commander's thermals at medium ranges, which have a better FoV than the gunner's sight. Rotate your camera around all the time. | *Use 3rd person view in close quarters, always. This gives you a much better situational awareness than 10 degrees of FoV in gunner's sight. Night battles are an exception, you can use commander's thermals at medium ranges, which have a better FoV than the gunner's sight. Rotate your camera around all the time. | ||
*Have your headphones on and watch out for engine sounds. They can give you a heads up against an enemy coming close that you don't see yet. | *Have your headphones on and watch out for engine sounds. They can give you a heads up against an enemy coming close that you don't see yet. |
Revision as of 10:45, 4 November 2021
This page is about the German medium tank Leopard 2A6. For other versions, see Leopard 2 (Family). |
Contents
Description
The Leopard 2A6 is a rank VIII German medium tank with a battle rating of 11.7 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "New Power".
The succeeding variant of the Leopard 2A5, the Leopard 2A6 is distinguished by a longer gun barrel, the 120 mm Rh120 L/55, a 55 calibre (6.6 m) long gun, 11 calibres (1.32 m) longer than its predecessor.
General info
Survivability and armour
The Leopard 2A6 retains the same excellent armour than its predecessor, the hull remains well protected and the turret cheeks are just as impenetrable. Add-on hull armour boosts the ability to protect against HEAT-FS and early APFSDS rounds. The wedges on the front of the turret are able to be blown off if a round with enough energy hits it. This isn't an issue since the armor underneath has +-800mm KE protection. The gunner's optic is also moved into the roof to eliminate the weak spot which was easily penetrated by any tank.
Be aware of High Explosive rounds and ATGM's though! If these land on your commander's cupola, the fragments can kill 3/4 crew members inside the turret. A hit to the lower part of the V shaped turret cheeks with an ATGM will most likely send fragments into your hull, penetrate and either detonate your ammo or kill several crew members. Don't get hit by an ATGM!
The frontal hull can be penetrated by all APFSDS rounds and ATGM warheads at its Battle Rating - if possible, hiding it by hulldowning properly is recommended.
Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
---|---|---|---|---|
Hull | 35 mm (53-82°) Upper glacis 40 mm (50-51°) Lower glacis |
10 mm (5°) Upper hull 35 mm (0°) Lower forward hull 20 mm (0°) Lower rear hull |
20 mm (12-50°) All rear | 20 mm (0-8°) Hull roof incl. engine deck |
Turret | 80 mm (57-59°) Right cheek add-on 80 mm (55-58°) Left cheek add-on 30 mm (63°) Upper mantlet add-on 400 mm (1°) Mantlet armour 250 mm (9°) Mantlet shroud |
80 mm (20-22°) Right add-on 80 mm (22°) Left add-on 35 mm (0°) Forward 15 mm (0°) Rear |
20 mm (10°) Basket 20 mm (70°) Turret underside |
35 - 40 mm (80-89°) Forehead Armour 14 mm (68-82°) Forward sides 20 mm (89°) Rear turret 20 mm (83°) Basket |
Composite armour | Front | Sides |
---|---|---|
Hull | Upper+Lower glacis 440 - 480 mm Kinetic 600 mm Chemical |
N/A |
Turret | Cheeks 850 - 950 mm Kinetic 1200 mm Chemical Gun mantlet (Centre) 260 - 325 mm Kinetic 600 - 690 mm Chemical Gun mantlet (Outer) 425 - 460 mm Kinetic 825 - 905 Chemical |
Side armour 260 mm Kinetic 230 - 285 mm Chemical |
Notes:
- Upper hull and Lower rear hull overlap (10 + 20 mm thick)
- Upper mantlet add-on and Mantlet armour overlap (30 + 400 mm thick)
- Holes in the engine deck are covered by 8 mm of mesh
Mobility
Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
Arcade | 76 | 35 | 59.9 | 2,032 | 2,862 | 33.92 | 47.78 |
Realistic | 69 | 31 | 1,327 | 1,500 | 22.15 | 25.04 |
The only drawback compared to the previous model would be the Leopard 2A6's mobility since, despite the half ton increase in weight, the engine remains the same, so the Leopard 2A6 retains the rather average mobility at its BR like the Leopard 2A5. Although, this difference is negligible and it is by no means a slow vehicle. The engine remains the same MTU (MOTOREN-UND TURBINEN-UNION FRIEDRICHSHAFEN GMBH) MB 873 Ka-501 engine which produces 1,500 hp (1,100 KW) at 2,600 RPM.
Modifications and economy
Armaments
Main armament
The Leopard 2A6 has access to the DM53 APFSDS shells, one of the highest penetrating APFSDS shells in the game. Such shell is able to penetrate M1A2 Abrams, Challenger 2 and T-80U more easily than its predecessor.
120 mm Rh120 L/55 | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
Arcade | 42 | -9°/+20° | ±180° | Two-plane | 38.1 | 52.7 | 64.0 | 70.8 | 75.3 | 7.80 | 6.90 | 6.36 | 6.00 |
Realistic | 23.8 | 28.0 | 34.0 | 37.6 | 40.0 |
Ammunition
Penetration statistics | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | |||||
10 m | 100 m | 500 m | 1,000 m | 1,500 m | 2,000 m | ||
DM12A1 | HEATFS | 480 | 480 | 480 | 480 | 480 | 480 |
DM33 | APFSDS | 496 | 494 | 486 | 476 | 466 | 456 |
DM53 | APFSDS | 652 | 650 | 640 | 628 | 616 | 604 |
Shell details | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile Mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
Ricochet | ||
0% | 50% | 100% | |||||||
DM12A1 | HEATFS | 1,190 | 13.5 | 0.05 | 0.1 | 2,150 | 65° | 72° | 77° |
DM33 | APFSDS | 1,690 | 4.3 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 78° | 80° | 81° |
DM53 | APFSDS | 1,750 | 5 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 78° | 80° | 81° |
Ammo racks
![](/images/thumb/7/71/Ammoracks_Leopard_2A6.png/360px-Ammoracks_Leopard_2A6.png)
Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
---|---|---|---|
42 | 16 (+26) | 1 (+41) | No |
Note:
- The 2nd rack serves as first-stage ammo stowage.
Machine guns
7.62 mm MG3A1 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
Coaxial | 4,500 (1,000) | 1,200 | N/A | N/A |
Pintle | 2,000 (1,000) | 1,200 | -8°/+20° | ±120° |
Usage in battles
The Leopard 2A6 retains almost the same mobility and exactly the same armor as Leopard 2A5. It does have a better gun with a better round. Yet, its playstyle remains the same.
- HULL-DOWN LONG DISTANCE COMBAT:
- The Leopard 2A6's turret is one of the hardest in the game to penetrate. But, it shares the same weakspot as any other vehicle at its BR - the mantlet area. It can also be destroyed by a well-aimed shot with an ATGM.
- To eliminate the risk of getting penetrated in the gun mantlet, the use of commander's thermals which are at the roof are recommended for scouting the area without exposing the turret itself at all. Make sure to always enable Commander's fire control, so the turret itself rotates with the sight. When you spot a target, you can use the laser rangefinder whilst still being in commander's view, then switch to gunner's sight, quickly peek, eliminate the target and quickly reverse back behind cover. Your turret will be exposed for only around 2 seconds, giving your target very slim chances to retaliate.
- Stay still only when taking a shot at the target, never any longer, since the longer you stay exposed, the higher the risk that your gun, along with some crew members is going to get taken out.
- This strategy makes you more or less immortal. You can fight and win against multiple opponents at a distance. CAS and flankers can still kill you though. Watch your flanks.
- CLOSE-QUARTERS COMBAT:
- Use 3rd person view in close quarters, always. This gives you a much better situational awareness than 10 degrees of FoV in gunner's sight. Night battles are an exception, you can use commander's thermals at medium ranges, which have a better FoV than the gunner's sight. Rotate your camera around all the time.
- Have your headphones on and watch out for engine sounds. They can give you a heads up against an enemy coming close that you don't see yet.
- In close quarters, any vehicle at your BR can penetrate you and so can you. Don't rush around mindlessly and pay attention to your surroundings.
- Sticking around your teammates can improve your lifespan.
- In close quarters, any vehicle at your BR can penetrate you and so can you. Due to this, you always have to shoot first to win. You need to be especially careful against Swedish Leopards and all Russian T-series tanks at your BR, since you have to aim for their weakspots more precisely than they need to aim at yours. If they manage to shoot you anywhere in the hull or the mantlet area, you have a problem. Meanwhile, you have to aim at the driver's hatch of T-series or the mantlet from the front and in the case of STRV-122's, only the mantlet is a reliable way of disabling them from the front.
- Never, ever peek around a corner if the enemy behind it is aiming at the corner. Your chances of shooting first are slim to none and you will most likely die.
- If uneven terrain such as a hill separates you and there is an enemy vehicle that is aware of you and aiming at you, you can peek first, provided you do it properly - don't use gunner's sight. Use 3rd person view and aim with the center of the outer crosshair circle directly at their mantlet area. Then, peek as fast as you can and as soon as you see the inner crosshair circle connect with what you are aiming at, take the shot immediately. When you learn to do this quickly enough, you will always win in this situation against any vehicle you face.
- If an enemy vehicle is rushing at you and going to peek around a corner, let them. You can easily shoot sooner than they do and get a free kill.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Incredibly powerful gun with the highest penetrating shell in the game, the DM53 with 650 mm of penetration at 100 m
- Impenetrable turret cheeks, the add-on wedge armour makes the turret cheeks immune from every shell in the game (average of 850 mm against long rod APFSDS and 1,450 mm against HEAT), combined with a small mantlet weakspot, this tank has one of the toughest turrets in the game
- Commander's thermals with generation 2 CCTV
- Good armour on the UFP (430 mm against APFSDS), immune to older shells; though all vehicles at its BR except some SPAA's can reliably penetrate it without an issue
- Extremely good gun handling for an MBT: 40°/s both turret rotation speed and gun elevation speed (with Ace crew) and -9°/+20° of vertical guidance
- Side turret covered by add-on armour can bounce early APFSDS shells and newer ones too if you get lucky
- Gunner optics are now mounted on top of the turret, removing the annoying weak spot present on the Leopard 2A4
- Cannon barrel and cannon breech can absorb impact rounds which may otherwise penetrate the turret and injure crew members
Cons:
- Lower glacis can still be penetrated by most shells, ≈250mm of KE protection against APFSDS, similar to most MBTs. Late Abrams variants are an exception with ≈400mm
- 16 shells in the ready-rack may be insufficient when playing in Arcade Battles, you have to aim for kills and be prepared to fall back and wait for a minute for the rack to replenish
- Huge hull ammo-rack if more than 16 shells are carried consequently making the tank vulnerable to HE shells and presenting an annoying weakspot in the hull. You can carry 21 or 27 rounds, they will be stored only in the lower plate. More than that is not recommended for close-quarters. It is both dangerous and unnecessary (no way you can spend 27 rounds in a city engagement)
- A penetrating shot on the left side of the hull will most likely knock out the driver, gunner and commander, thus destroying the tank
- A penetrating shell on the right side of the hull will most likely hit the ammo-rack, destroying the tank (if you carry more than 16 rounds)
- The wedges can be shot off with several hits, though the turret cheeks alone provide 710 mm against KE
- Despite all the added armour, the turret ring and the mantlet are both easily penetrated, and the enemy will most likely aim at these two spots to disable or destroy the tank
History
Following the rollout of the Leopard 2A5 modification with enhanced protection, German engineers, in cooperation with international partners, immediately began working on improving the MBTs firepower.
This was achieved by, among other minor modifications, lengthening the Rh 120 L44 cannon by 1,320 mm, thus creating the Rh 120 L55. As a result, the Leopard 2A6's firing range was extended in addition to other ballistic properties being improved.
Production of the vehicle began in the early 2000s by converting older Leopard 2A4 and A5 models to the new standard. Initially, around 225 Leopard 2A6s were produced for the German Bundeswehr. Apart from domestic use, the Leopard 2A6 also sees service with Dutch, Canadian, Greek and Portuguese forces, among others. In particular, the Leopard 2A6 was deployed with Canadian forces to Afghanistan in 2007, marking its first operational use.
The Leopard 2A6 is still in service today and, along with other variants, forms the spearhead of the armoured units of the German Bundeswehr.
- From Devblog
Media
- Skins
- Images
- Leopard 2A6 Devblog Images
- Videos
See also
- Leopard 2A5 - Preceding vehicle
External links
Germany medium tanks | |
---|---|
Pz.III | Pz.III B · Pz.III E · Pz.III F · Pz.III J · Pz.III J1 · Pz.III J1 TD · Pz.III L · Pz.III M · Pz.III N |
Pz.IV | Pz.IV C · Pz.IV E · Pz.IV F1 · Pz.IV F2 · Pz.IV G · Pz.IV H · Pz.IV J · Pz.Bef.Wg.IV J |
Pz.V | VK 3002 (M) · Panther A · Panther D · Panther F · Panther G · Ersatz M10 · Panther II |
M48 upgrades | M48A2 G A2 · M48 Super |
Leopard 1 | Leopard I · Leopard A1A1 · Leopard A1A1 (L/44) · Leopard 1A5 · C2A1 · Turm III |
Leopard 2 | PT-16/T14 mod. · Leopard 2K · Leopard 2AV |
Leopard 2A4 · Leopard 2 (PzBtl 123) · Leopard 2 PL · Leopard 2A5 · Leopard 2 PSO · Leopard 2A6 · Leopard 2A7V | |
Trophies | ▀M4 748 (a) · ▀T 34 747 (r) |
Other | Nb.Fz. · KPz-70 |
USA | mKPz M47 G · M48A2 C |
USSR | ◊T-72M1 |