【Military Subplane】Author: Taibai
The "Leclerc" tank entered service with the France Army in 1993 and has been in service for more than 30 years, but it has never been destroyed, which can be called a legendary existence among the main battle tanks of various countries. It claims to have a powerful perception ability, and has an "open" God-like perspective on the battlefield. But apart from Qatar, no country wants to buy. Why did the French army announce that it would reduce the number of equipment to more than 200 by 2030, and why could it not be sold?
▲ "Leclerc" tank, picture source: Internet
Speaking of France's main battle tanks, it is also relatively eclectic. During World War II, in terms of tank performance alone, France did not lose to Germany, but due to the overall situation, the light of France tanks was far less dazzling than Germany tanks. After World War II, France was equipped with a large number of German Leopard medium tanks, but the France, eager to make a difference in Viet Nam, found that they were not in good hands. Since then, he has devoted himself to the research of the AMX series. The main feature of this series of tanks is that the cart carries the cannon, and the specially designed turret is detached from the traditional configuration and can be easily mounted on a light chassis. It was not until 1986 that France decided that it could not continue like this. It took four years to develop Leclerc in 1990. And after 3 years of testing, officially equipped with the France Army. Almost the same year, the deep-pocketed U.A.E. bought hundreds of vehicles from France. But since then, "Leclerc" has no record of being sold abroad, and even the France themselves are no longer willing to buy in large quantities.
▲ "Leclerc" tank, picture source: Internet
In terms of performance, "Leclerc" is very good. It uses a Wärtsilä V8X-1500 supercharged diesel engine with an output of 1,500 hp. According to the France, overboost technology can greatly increase the maximum output of traditional diesel engines. For example, there is data that proves that the power of a conventional inline-six diesel engine with 330 horsepower can be increased to 600 horsepower after using overcharging technology. If a further low-pressure turbine is installed, the output can reach 750 hp without a significant increase in fuel consumption. Thanks to this technology, "Leclerc" has the highest power density of all tanks in Europe. The ESM-500 hydraulic transmission used by the "Leclerc" is almost one of the most compact in its class. Weighs only 1.8 tons, which is much lighter than the usual 2.5 tons in third-generation main battle tanks. When designing the "Leclerc", the focus on weight reduction was placed on the power system, so when the main battle tanks of other countries easily exceeded 60 tons, the "Leclerc" was not troubled by the weight aspect.
▲ "Leclerc" tank, picture source: Internet
In terms of firepower, "Leclerc" is relatively conservative, and he still uses NATO standard 120 mm caliber tank guns. At that time, the most popular in Europe was the Germany L44 or L45 smoothbore gun, and the unique France installed a self-developed GIAT CN 120-26 120 mm 52 times diameter smoothbore gun, which was comparable to the L55 produced by Rheinmetall in terms of armor-piercing level. "Leclerc" installed a tail-cabin loader, which is clearly not the same as the choice of NATO countries. With the loader, the Leclerc can fire 12 shells in less than a minute. With the help of the information system, the commander can transmit target information to the gunner outside the range of the tank gun, and the latter will complete the design action. In a later version of the Leclerc, both crew members had separate thermal imaging cameras, and the in-vehicle information system could display the vehicle's ammunition surplus and most of the battlefield information. Although the overall fire control system has not changed much in 30 years, after constantly updating the battlefield information management equipment and electronics, the "Leclerc" still belongs to the first echelon of the third generation of tanks.
"Leclerc" was not outstanding in terms of armor, and was even inferior to many tanks. The France did not focus their research and development on protection capabilities from the beginning, but only hoped that their main battle tanks would have strong firepower and mobility. Able to quickly seize a position on the battlefield and be the first to fire and kill the target. As a result, the frontal armor of the turret is about 600 mm equivalent to the average armor hull, and the frontal armor is about 550 mm, which can only be said to be barely sufficient.
▲ "Leclerc" tank, picture source: Internet
"Leclerc" has little competitiveness in the international market. Compared with the "Leopard" 2, it simply can't be sold. The reason for this is, on the one hand, the protection ability is too poor, and on the other hand, the cost is expensive. France's own procurement costs are also as high as 22 million francs, and the price of external sales is basically around 10 million US dollars. $10 million to buy such a tank is not something that most countries can afford, and only local tycoons like Qatar can afford it. After the end of the Cold War, as France began to officially rot, the army's military spending was greatly reduced. With such expensive military equipment, naturally there is no need for much. For now, the weakness of the armor of "Leclerc" has become a big problem. Modern warfare drones are flying all over the sky and can hunt tanks at any time. Ukraine knows best the weakness of "Leclerc", so they simply did not take it out for real combat.
France is going to work with Germany on the next generation of EMBT tanks, known as the fourth generation tank. As in the case of fighters, there are also algebraic divisions in tanks. It is generally believed that the Soviet T-72 tank is a typical representative of the 3rd generation tank, or the minimum threshold and "goalkeeper". The main battle tanks of most countries in service in the world today belong to the third generation tanks, such as the M1 of the United States, the "Leopard" of the Germany, the "Leopard" 2, the T-72 and T-80 of the Russia, the "Merkava" of the Israel, the 90 of the Japan, and of course, the "Leclerc" of the France. As for whether Russia's T-90 and T-90M belong to the next generation of tanks, there are still differences of opinion among countries. Because of Russia's backward electronic industry capabilities, the T-90M's century performance was much worse than expected, and even not much better than the T-72, so it was not favored by the outside world.
▲EMBT tank, picture source: Internet
As for tanks like the T-14, although they are called the "originators" of the 4th generation tank, many foreign experts still have doubts about its actual combat effectiveness. On the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield, not a single T-14 drove to the front line. It is rumored that in 2015, a T-14 at a military parade on Red Square had a malfunction in its engine and was eventually dragged out of the scene by a tractor. The announcer claimed that this was to show the public an "emergency evacuation" operation. But the reality is clear to everyone. So in the standards of the 4th generation tank there is a "reliability" criterion specifically for the "Armata", and the irony is self-evident.
As for the 4th generation tanks of other countries, it is recognized as Germany's next-generation KF-51 "Panther" tank, United States' "Abrams" X, and the Franco-German joint development of the EMBT "enhanced main battle tank". Why isn't there a 99A here? Because for Western countries, the main battle tanks of various countries have at least really come into contact, and their main development history is also obvious to all. But the key information of Chinese tanks is seriously missing for Western countries, and they have no way to judge. However, 99A is definitely the first and second main battle tanks in active service, and it will definitely not lose in the face of the so-called 4th generation tanks in the West.
▲ "Black Panther" tank, picture source: Internet
The EMBT tank is very different from the France "Leclerc" in that its main gun has been changed to a 120 mm L52 smoothbore gun, and it also has the potential to be replaced with a France self-developed 140 mm gun. Above the turret of the EMBT is an ARX 30 remotely controlled weapon station, which is adapted from equipment on a gunship. The weight of the whole vehicle has been increased to 61.5 tons, which obviously puts a lot of effort into protection. However, the EMBT is really a combination of German and French tanks, especially the turret is basically the original "Leclerc", which is relatively light, but the protection ability is also poor. It is difficult to say whether the EMBT is considered a fourth-generation tank or not, since the international standards for fourth-generation tanks have not been recognized in the world. And France and Germany have also made two preparations for EMBT: Germany has its own "Black Panther", and France is also determined to continue to develop the "Leclerc" XLR, which can really be described as "each has its own ghost", so EMBT may not be able to go on.
As previously stated, France already does not have much demand for tanks. Moreover, the price of the EMBT and "Leclerc" XLR will definitely be more expensive than $10 million, and the possibility of mass production is extremely low. As for the anti-UAVs advertised by France, or even new characteristics that can be equipped with UAVs, it is still a question whether they can be applied on tanks. How the future develops, we can only continue to see.