To learn about the Leopard 1 Main Battle Tank's equipment, continue to the next page. The tank can be sealed and overpressurized for use in a nuclear-biological-chemical warfare environment. The driver is in the front of the hull on the right-hand side.

The loader is on the left in the turret and hefts shells into the main gun's breech, which opens and ejects the empty shell on recoil. The commander and gunner are in the turret on the right. The Leopard 1 has a conventional hull divided by a fireproof bulkhead into an engine compartment aft and a crew compartment forward. It is heavily gunned and armored, although less so than the Soviet MBTs it was designed to face. The Leopard 1 is an MBT of 1960s derivation. So the Germans had to begin from scratch when they designed and built the Leopard tank. In fact, it is not.įollowing Germany's unconditional surrender in May 1945, the Allies made certain that all military production facilities were completely dismantled. Given Germany's history of successful tank production and use, it would seem logical that the Leopard 1 Main Battle Tank would be an extension of the technology developed for the Panther and Tiger series of tanks.

Italy first thought to design and build its own MBT, but then decided to buy the American M-60 MBT as a replacement for its M-47 medium tanks. Thus, the design partnership ended.įrance sent the AMX-30 into production. The following year the German government decided that the Standardpanzer design, now known as the Leopard, was more suitable for its needs. In 1962 trials between the French design, the AMX-30, and German tank prototypes were conducted.

The first prototypes, both from German teams, were ready for testing in 1960. Two design teams were formed in Germany and one in France. In 1957 Germany and France, and later Italy, agreed to cooperate in designing and building a new Main Battle Tank (MBT).

Battle tank