Leopard 2 data

[Dillie]

The data from the encyclopedia differs from data from wikipedia and I don't know who to believe now...

[Rick50]

29 minutes ago, Dillie said:

The data from the encyclopedia differs from data from wikipedia and I don't know who to believe now...

Neither. Look up the actual user manuals for the Leo2, and note which variant it is, the newer ones have extra belly armor bolt-on to protect from stacked minestrikes and IED's.

[Dillie]

You can just do that? How does one find those manuals, just google?

[Rick50]

Well yes and no.

Google searching for Leopard 2 operator handbook, and some variations of that. You may or may not find anything. 

American equipment is usually available, though not always strictly "legal", owing to regulations and such. But it's not unusual to find Apache, Hornet,  Hercules and other manuals. 

Keep in mind, the handbook won't nessisarily include secret details... it might but might not. It's meant for an experienced operator to get familiar with the new complex equipment, not a novice who's just starting out.

If you have a second or third language, do searches in those languages too, you might find manuals in those languages, especially for the European-wide use of the Leopard2 series of tanks!

[Rick50]

For instance, the Leopard 2 was sold throughout Europe, from the Nordic countries to Greece, but in recent years includes Turkish units in Syria, and Canada too, so there should be an English manual (though Canadian manuals don't show up all that often on the net). 

See, Canada was still using Leo1's even up to the mid-2000's, and we brought a few to Afghanistan for infantry fire support as a tactical experiment.  The experiment was both a big failure and huge success:  by this time these Leo1  old tanks were way past the end of their service life, they were breaking down and overheating fiercely, and the crews were super fatigued due to the insane heat (Leo1's were never designed for desert or hot countries, but rather for cental Europe). But on the other hand, the fire support provided was outstanding, accurate, powerful enough to do the job but not so much that you were worried all the time about civilian casualties because the boom was too big.

So the Canadian Army started looking for a quick purchase of a newer better tank. And before you could say "we've got nice used ones on sale!" we had many options on lightly used Leo2's from several nations, German Army and others.  We bought 20 in one config from German Army and had them flown by Antonov to Afghanistan as soon as able, with radio upgrades, belly armor for IED's, and the air conditioning coolers were either upgraded or doubled for the high heat. This second test just went operational and our Army just decided to buy a whole complement of Leo2's, the majority of which I think came from Netherlands after a few little upgrades. Last year I saw one in Edmonton! Truly impressive tank... though Canada was seriously late to the party on that one, but we bought top quality for used car prices, so it's hard to complain!