Quiet Modernisation for Turkish Leopard 2 Tanks
12 July, 2020
Tanks in the Turkish Armed Forces inventory are being modernized in line with the requirements of the modern battlefield.
President of Defence Industries Prof. Dr. İsmail Demir visited ASELSAN Facilities due to the completion of the M60T upgrade project under the Fırat Programme. He made an announcement about tank modernization activities with domestic facilities. Prof. Dr. Demir said, "In addition to the M60 tank, the modernization process of the Leopard tanks in the inventory is continuing. During this modernization process, there was a much shorter development process than the calendar given about the acquisition period, such as the of some imported components. Leopards will continue to be modernized in parallel with the follow-up of the M60Ts. ". Thus, the Leopard 2A4 modernization process, which has had no official announcement or any information flow for some time, has been officially confirmed.
Last year, Minister of National Defence Hulusi Akar visited the 2nd Main Maintenance Factory. In the images published here, it was seen that additional armour plates were integrated on a Leopard 2A4 main battle tank. In addition, in another image shared in the Turkish media, it was observed that in addition to plates added to the platform, cage armour and reactive armour (ERA / Explosive Reactive Armor) blocks were integrated. In the document of armour solutions published by Roketsan, it was found that the survivability of Leopard 2s increased, unlike the other two solutions. In the Leopard 2A4 modernization program, which Prof. Dr. Demir stated in his speech, which solution will finally be implemented and which subcomponents to be integrated to platforms has not yet been confirmed through official channels.
