KF-51 Panther Main Battle Tank (Germany)
Channel: Main Battle Tank
Date: 13/01/2023

The KF-51 Panther is a new German main battle tank. It was developed by Rheinmetall in response to appearance of Russian next-generation Armata main battle tank, which was a promising design with a number of advanced features. Development of the KF-51 Panther began in 2016. It was developed as a private venture. The tank was publicly revealed in 2022. It is being proposed as a next-generation replacement for Leopard 2 series tanks.

The KF-51 is based on the hull of the Leopard 2A4. However it is fitted with a new turret, which houses a 130 mm main gun and is fitted with an autoloader. Modern main battle tanks reached their weight limit already and armor protection can not be significantly increased any further. So German developers from Rheinmetall stressed emphasis on active protection system and networking capabilities.

   There is a new 2-man turret, which is significantly larger than that of the latest Leopard 2A7.

The KF-51 Panther tank is armed with a next-generation Rheinmetall Rh-130 L52 gun. This is a 130 mm gun. It outperforms the standard NATO 120 mm tank guns in terms of range and lethality. It has 50% longer effective range than the standard Rheinmetall 120 mm tank gun. This gun uses newly-developed APFSDS munitions and programmable airburst munitions.

The gun is fitted with an autoloader. This allowed to reduce the crew workload. The autoloader consists of two revolving drums magazines with 10 rounds each. So a total of 20 rounds for the main gun are stored in the autoloader. During testing this tank managed to fire 3 rounds in 16 seconds. Maximum rate of fire could be around 10 rounds per minute. Loading hatches are located in the turret sides. These are used to replenish ammunition. It takes 5 minutes to load a full set of ammunition. The autoloader also has unloading and restocking capability. It seems that space inside the hull is no longer used to store ammunition. However there is an option to carry additional 10 rounds externally on the back of the vehicle.

This tank has advanced commander's and gunner's sights. Fire control system has integrated artificial intelligence. This allows automatic target detection and identification.

There is a coaxial 12.7 mm machine gun. There is another 7.62 mm machine gun, mounted in remotely-controlled weapon station. This weapon station can elevate to +85 degrees. This allows to engage low-flying helicopters and drones.

Interesting feature of this new tank is that carries two modular launch pods for HERO 120 loitering munitions. Modular launchers are housed in the turret and are configured to carry a total of 4 HERO 120 suicide drones. These provide non-line of sight strike capability. These modular launchers can be configured to carry other drones.

This tank has a welded steel armor hull. Composite armor is used over the front arc. There are modules with passive armor. Damaged modules can be easily replaced. Also there are sensor-based modules with explosive reactive armor that provides protection against HEAT rounds, as well as many anti-tank rockets and older anti-tank missiles. It is likely that ballistic protection of the hull and turret are similar to those of the Leopard 2A7. Increase in armor protection was not significant  due to weight restrictions. So the KF-51 relies on its active protection system. This tank uses Rheinmetall's active protection system. The tank can be fitted with top attack protection system. This is the same hard-kill active protection system, which destroys incoming rockets and missiles but has an added protection area of the roof.

The tank is operated by a crew of 3, including commander, gunner and driver. There is no loader as this tank is fitted with an automatic gun loading mechanism. Interestingly the KF-51 Panther has 4th optional station for additional specialist. This could be a dedicated drone operator.

The tank has got a number of cameras for 360 degree visibility. The driver also uses front-mounted cameras.

The downside of this tank is that the driver and additional specialist, who are seated at the front of the hull, have got no convenient emergency exits. Driver is provided with a hatch, and it seems that the optional crew station for the 4th crewmember can be fitted with a hatch. However emergency exit can be complicated due to the sloped turret armor, that is overlapping the hatches. This could become a serious survivability issue as the crewmembers can be trapped in a burning tank.

This tank is powered by an MTU MB 873 Ka-501 diesel engine, developing 1 500 hp. The same engine is used by German Leopard 2 main battle tank. Engine is mated to a Renk automatic transmission. This tank weights a whooping 59 t. The KF-51 is among the heaviest tanks in the world. Though it is lighter than the latest US Abrams main battle tanks. Maximum speed of the tank has not been disclosed, but it could be around 65 km/h.