Krauss-Maffei Leopard 2

The Krauss-Maffei Leopard 2 is a main battle tank developed in West Germany in the 1970s. The tank first entered service in 1979 and succeeded the earlier Leopard 1 as the main battle tank of the German Army. Various versions have served in the armed forces of Germany and twelve other European countries, as well as several non-European nations. The Leopard 2 was used in Kosovo with the German Army and has also seen action in Afghanistan with the Danish and Canadian contributions to the International Security Assistance Force.
There are two main development batches of the tank, the original models up to Leopard 2A4, which have vertically faced turret armour, and the "improved" batch, namely the Leopard 2A5 and newer versions, which have angled arrow-shaped turret appliqué armour together with other improvements. All models feature digital fire control systems with laser rangefinders, a fully stabilized main gun and coaxial machine gun, and advanced night vision and sighting equipment (first vehicles used a low-light level TV system or LLLTV; thermal imaging was introduced later on). The tank has the ability to engage moving targets while moving over rough terrain.
== Variants ==
*Leopard 2
*Leopard 2A1
*Leopard 2A2
*Leopard 2A3
*Leopard 2A4
**Leopard 2A4CHL
**Leopard 2A4NO
**Leopard 2PL
**Leopard 2A4RI
**Leopard 2A4SG
**Pz87
***Pz87WE
***Pz87-140
*Leopard 2A5
**Strv122
**Leopard 2(S)
**Leopard 2A5DK
*Leopard 2A6
**Leopard 2A6CA
**Leopard 2A6HEL
**Leopard 2A6M
**Leopard 2A6NL
**Leopard 2E
*Leopard 2A7
**Leopard 2A7+
**Leopard 2A7DK
*Leopard 2A8
*Leopard 2-140
==Users==
*Austria
**Austrian Army x 114 Leopard 2A4s
*Bulgaria
**Bulgarian Army x 24 Leopard 2A6s
*Canada
**Canadian Army (244 Leopard 2A6CAs and 80 Leopard 2A6Ms)
*Chile
**Chilean Army x 240 (140 x Leopard 2A4CHLs, 100 x Leopard 2A5s)
*Croatia
**Croatian Army x 50 Leopard 2A5s
*Czechia
**Czechian Army x 120 Leopard 2A7s
*Denmark
**Royal Danish Army x 57 Leopard 2A5DKs
*Estonia
**Estonian Land Forces
*Finland
**Finnish Army x 239 (139 x Leopard 2A4s, 100 x Leopard 2A6NLs)
*Germany
**German Army x 328 Leopard 2A6/2A6M/2A7s
*Greece
**Hellenic Army x 353 (183 x Leopard 2A4s, 170 x Leopard 2A6 HELs) + 123 Leopard 2A4Ms on order
*Hungary
**Hungarian Ground Forces x 44 (Leopard 2A7+)
*Indonesia
**Indonesian Army x 103 Leopard 2RIs
*Italy
**Italian Army x 0 (250 x Leopard 2A7s on order)
*Latvia
**Latvian Land Forces
*Lithuania
**Lithuanian Land Force x 50 Leopard 2A8s
*Netherlands
**Royal Netherlands Army x 34 Leopard 2A6s
*Norway
**Royal Norwegian Army x 52 Leopard 2A4NOs
*Poland
**Polish Army x 249 (142 x Leopard 2A4s, 105 x Leopard 2A5s, 2 x Fahrschulpanzer Leopard 2)
*Portugal
**Portuguese Army x 37 Leopard 2A6s
*Qatar
**Qatar Emiri Land Force x 62 Leopard 2A7s
*Saudi Arabia
**Royal Saudi Army x 800 Leopard 2A7+s
*Singapore
**Republic of Singapore Army x 182 Leopard 2SGs
*Spain
**Spanish Army - see Leopard 2E
*Sweden
**Swedish Army - see Strv 122
*Switzerland
**Swiss Army x 380 Leopard 2A4s
*Turkey
**Turkish Land Forces x 354 Leopard 2A4s
==See Also==
===Related Development===
*Krauss-Maffei Leopard 2E
*Krauss-Maffei Leopard 2PL
*Stridsvagn 122
===Comparable Tanks===
*Al-Khalid
*Altay
*Ariete
*FV4030 Challenger 1
*FV4034 Challenger 2
*K1-88 Tank
*K2 Black Panther
*Leclerc
*Lince tank
*M1 Abrams
*M-84
**M-84AS
**M-84D
*M-95 Degman
*Merkava
*PT-91 Twardy
*Type 10 Hitomaru
*Type 90 Kyū-maru
*Type 99 Main Battle Tank
*T-80
*T-84 Oplot
*T-90
*TR-125
*VT-4 Main Battle Tank
*Zulfiqar MBT
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