{"id":47701,"date":"2022-06-13T19:50:58","date_gmt":"2022-06-13T17:50:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/?p=47701"},"modified":"2024-06-13T00:18:16","modified_gmt":"2024-06-12T22:18:16","slug":"panther-kf51-this-is-the-latest-generation-combat-tank-that-will-replace-the-leopard-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2022\/06\/13\/panther-kf51-this-is-the-latest-generation-combat-tank-that-will-replace-the-leopard-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Panther KF51: this is the latest generation combat tank that will replace the Leopard 2"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The German company Rheinmetall today presented a new main battle tank, that will replace the already famous Leopard 2, in service since 1979.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><rel><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2022\/04\/23\/the-tanks-that-the-uk-plans-to-send-to-poland-in-order-to-deliver-t-72-to-ukraine\/\">The tanks that the UK plans to send to Poland in order to deliver T-72 to Ukraine<\/a><\/rel><br \/>\n<rel><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2022\/03\/13\/the-egg-cartons-of-the-russian-tanks-the-poor-protection-of-many-t-72b3-and-t-80\/\">The 'egg cartons' of the Russian tanks: the poor protection of many T-72B3 and T-80<\/a><\/rel><\/p>\n<p><strong>Named Panther KF51, following the German tradition of putting names of felines to their main battle tanks<\/strong> (in this case they reuse the nickname used by the 1943 Panzer V Panther), Rheinmetall published today after 3:00 p.m. CMT the following <strong>video showing how this armored vehicle will be:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"665\" height=\"374\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fTBA5tQsDbE\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RheinmetallAG\/status\/1536327117268471808\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The official presentation was made at the same time at Eurosatory<\/a>, a defense exhibition held in Paris, discovering a vehicle that was covered with a tarpaulin. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rheinmetall-defence.com\/en\/rheinmetall_defence\/systems_and_products\/vehicle_systems\/armoured_tracked_vehicles\/panther_kf51\/index.php\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">On its website, Rheinmetall refers to the Panther<\/a> as <em>\"<strong>a radically new MBT concept not constrained by yesterday\u2019s technology.<\/strong> Drawing on some of the latest technologies, the Panther was <strong>designed from the ground <\/strong>up to deliver the highest lethality on the battlefield, combined with an integrated survivability concept and connected by a fully digitised NGVA data backbone to enable next-generation operational capabilities and automation. This enables <strong>a reduction in crew size, which paves the way for unmanned turret options<\/strong> and Human-Machine Teaming.\"<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52144107815_2c0e2005aa_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; margin:10px 0 10px 0;\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>One of the most notable details of the Panther is its 130mm Future Gun System (FGS)<\/strong>, a larger caliber than the 120mm Rheinmetall L55 gun that the latest versions of the Leopard 2 have been using. The German company has also announced another new feature of the Panther compared to its predecessor: <strong><em>\"a fully automated ammunition handling system\".<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>According to the German company,<strong> the new FGS gun, <em>\"developed by Rheinmetall, enables a 50 per cent longer kill range to be achieved (than 120 mm)<\/strong> with an unrivalled rate of fire due to the autoloader performance.\"<\/em> As for the armament, there is<strong> another important novelty: the Panther will carry a 12.7mm coaxial machine gun<\/strong>, instead of the already classic 7.62mm MG3 that the Leopard 2 carried.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52143667956_6a58af27ae_b.jpg\" style=\"width:661px; height:auto; border:2px solid #7F7261;\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rheinmetall-defence.com\/en\/rheinmetall_defence\/systems_and_products\/vehicle_systems\/armoured_tracked_vehicles\/panther_kf51\/index.php\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">image published by Rheinmetall<\/a> we can see <strong>the inside of the turret:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>At<strong>point 1<\/strong> we see the new <strong>130 mm gun<\/strong>, which will be called L52 and will be smooth-bore, like the L55 of the Leopard 2, and will have an elevation range of 9-20\u00ba, and the fully digital, high-precision turret drive and stabilization system.<\/li>\n<li>At <strong>point 2<\/strong> we see the 12.7 mm <strong>coaxial machine gun<\/strong> (which will be mounted to the right of the barrel), which will hold 250 rounds and will be easily accessible from the outside .<\/li>\n<li>At <strong>point 3<\/strong>, at the rear of the turret, we see the <strong>Natter RCWS drone protection system<\/strong>, which will include a 7.62mm machine gun with 2,500 rounds.<\/li>\n<li>At <strong>point 4<\/strong> is the <strong>tank commander's SEOSS 2 sight<\/strong>, which will include a multispectral camera system and a laser rangefinder.<\/li>\n<li>At <strong>point 5<\/strong> we see the <strong>EMES sight of the gunner<\/strong>. Rheinmetall does not offer any further data on this scope. The Leopard 2, from its first versions, was already equipped with a viewfinder of this type.<\/li>\n<li>At <strong>point 6<\/strong> we see the <strong>gun autoloader<\/strong>, which will carry up to 20 projectiles ready to load and will have unloading and resupply capacity.<\/li>\n<li>Finally, the <strong>point 7<\/strong> shows the <strong>HERO 120 Starter<\/strong>, equipped with four HERO 120 loitering munitions, a type of smart munition manufactured by Israel and that is halfway between the anti-tank munitions and drones.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As you can see in the following screenshot of the Rheinmetall video, <strong>externally the Panther has certain similarities with the Leopard 2<\/strong>, both in its chassis and in its turret, which shares the same wedge-shaped armor layout.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52142600712_e8dd2b5056_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; margin:10px 0 10px 0;\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Rheinmetall has indicated that <strong>the combat weight of the Panther will be 59 tons (the Leopard 2A6 weighs 62.3) and it will have a range of more than 500 km.<\/strong> The German company points out that the Panther <em>\"provides far greater mobility than current systems. This puts it in a battle-winning weight category and it also <strong>fits the tunnel profile AMovP-4L without preparation: a requirement that no current MBT upgrade fulfils<\/strong>. Consequently, the Panther excels in tactical and strategic mobility.\"<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52144107830_dc05147d25_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; margin:10px 0 10px 0;\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Another important aspect of the new battle tank is its computer technology: <em>\"<strong>The Panther is a truly software-defined tank fully enabled to collect and disseminate information on the multi-domain battlefield.<\/strong> Deep integration of modern BMS and software-defined communication systems enables forces to operate in collaborative combat environments such as cross-platform sensor-to-shooter links. <strong>The Panther is designed to control assigned unmanned aerial vehicles such as on-board or off-board drones<\/strong>, loitering ammunition and a range of uncrewed ground vehicles.\"<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52143860774_d55185492e_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; margin:10px 0 10px 0;\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Although the Panther will usually carry three crew members, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rheinmetall-defence.com\/media\/editor_media\/rm_defence\/publicrelations\/messen_symposien\/eurosatory_bilder\/2022\/downloads\/fahrzeuge\/tracked_vehicles\/B325e05.22_Panther_KF51.pdf\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the official dossier of the battle tank published by Rheinmetall<\/a>, <strong>on its chassis there will be a place for an optional fourth crew member.<\/strong> In this image of the dossier we see the place that each one will occupy:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Commander<\/strong> (left part of the turret).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Gunner<\/strong> (right part of the turret).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Driver<\/strong> (right front part of the chassis).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Specialist<\/strong> (front left of chassis). In this position, a company commander or a drone operator may go.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52143970334_81c9d4d5e4_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; margin:10px 0 10px 0;\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In the following image we can see <strong>what the tank commander's position will look like, highly digitized:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52143986264_ae03239332_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; margin:10px 0 10px 0;\" \/><\/p>\n<p>To finish,<strong> Rheinmetall has announced: <em>\"The Panther is the first of a new MBT family.<\/strong> In the near future, there will be further innovations that support environmentally friendly peacetime operations and further optimisation in terms of automation and effectiveness.\"<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52143774098_ecb4b3459f_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; margin:10px 0 10px 0;\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The German company Rheinmetall today presented a new main battle tank, that will replace the already famous Leopard 2, in service since 1979.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[19536,11548],"tags":[16797,2290,16794,10971,16795],"class_list":["post-47701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-we-said-yesterday","category-armament","tag-hero-120-loitering-munition","tag-leopard-2","tag-panther-kf51","tag-rheinmetall","tag-rheinmetall-fgs-l52"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47701"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47701\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}