Leopard 2A6 (Sweden)
| This page is about the medium tank Leopard 2A6 (Sweden). For other versions, see Leopard 2 (Family). |
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Contents
Description
The ▄Leopard 2A6 is a rank VIII Swedish medium tank with a battle rating of 12.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Fire and Ice".
General info
Survivability and armour
The Leopard 2A6 has excellent armour, the hull is well protected and the turret cheeks are just as impenetrable. Add-on hull armour boosts the ability to protect against HEATFS 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 armour underneath has ~710 mm of 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 ATGMs though. If these land on your commander's cupola, the fragments can knock out 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 incapacitate 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 BR: if possible, hiding it by hulldowning properly is recommended.
Armour type:
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | ___ mm | ___ mm Top ___ mm Bottom |
___ mm | ___ - ___ mm |
| Turret | ___ - ___ mm Turret front ___ mm Gun mantlet |
___ - ___ mm | ___ - ___ mm | ___ - ___ mm |
| Cupola | ___ mm | ___ mm | ___ mm | ___ mm |
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 | |
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armaments
Main armament
| 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) (kg) |
Ricochet | ||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | |||||||
| DM12A1 | HEATFS | 1,190 | 13.5 | 0.05 | 0.1 | 2.15 | 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
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|
| 42 | 16 (+26) | 1 (+41) | No |
Notes:
- Shells are modeled individually and disappear after having been shot or loaded.
- Rack 2 is a first stage ammo rack. It totals 15 shells and gets filled first when loading up the tank.
- This rack is also emptied early: the rack depletion order at full capacity is: 2 - 1.
- Simply not firing when the gun is loaded will move ammo from rack 1 into rack 2. Firing will interrupt the restocking of the ready rack.
Machine guns
| 7.62 mm FN MAG 60-40 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Pintle | 2,000 (200) | 600 | -10°/+75° | ±180° |
| 7.62 mm MG3A1 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Coaxial | 4,400 (200) | 1,200 | N/A | N/A |
Usage in battles
The Leopard 2A6 retains almost the same mobility and exactly the same armour 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 weak spot 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 defeat 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. Since you can get penetrated easily from the front, ou 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 weak spots 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 122s, 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 faster than they do.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Incredibly powerful gun with the DM53 high penetrating kinetic round (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 APFSDS and 1,450 mm against HEAT), combined with a small mantlet weak spot, this tank has one of the toughest turrets in the game
- Commander's camera with 2nd generation thermal imager - binoculars on steroids
- Good armour on the UFP (430 mm against APFSDS), immune to older shells; though all vehicles at its BR except some SPAAs 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, ~250 mm of KE protection against APFSDS, similar to most MBTs. Late Abrams variants are an exception with ~400 mm
- 16 shells in the ready-rack may be insufficient when playing in Arcade Battles, you have to aim for weak points 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 weak spot 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
Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the vehicle in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).
Media
Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.
See also
External links
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- other literature.
| Sweden medium tanks | |
|---|---|
| Strv m/42 | Lago I · Strv m/42 EH · Ikv 73 · Strv m/42 DT · Pvkv IV |
| Centurion derivatives | Strv 81 · Strv 81 (RB 52) · Strv 101 · Strv 104 · Strv 105 |
| Strv 103 | Strv 103-0 · Strv 103A · Strv 103С |
| Strv 121/122 | Strv 121 · Christian II · Strv 122A · Strv 122B PLSS · Strv 122B+ |
| Other | Sherman III/IV · T 80 U |
| Finland | |
| WWII | ▄T-28 · ▄T-34 · ▄Pz.IV · ▄T-34-85 |
| Post War | ▄Comet I · ▄Charioteer Mk VII · ▄T-54 · ▄T-55M · ▄T-72M1 · ▄Leopard 2A4 · ▄Leopard 2A6 |
| Norway | Leopard 1A5NO2 |
