Demonstration of a Leclerc tank in Paris, on the 14th of July 2006 Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2137x1427, 417 KB) Work by Rama File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Leclerc Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner... The Champs-Élysées decorated with flags for the 14 July. ...
Leclerc
General characteristics
Crew	3 (Commander, gunner, driver)
Length	9.87 m (6.88 without gun)
Width	3.60 m
Height	2.50 m
Weight	56 tonnes
Armour and armament
Armour	Steel, titanium, NERA
Main armament	120mm tank gun 40 rounds Military vehicles are commonly armoured to withstand the impact of shrapnel, bullets or shells, protecting the soldiers inside from enemy fire. ... M60A1 Patton tank with Israeli Blazer ERA. T-72 battle tank layered with reactive armour bricks Reactive armour is a type of vehicle armour that reacts in some way to the impact of a weapon to reduce the damage done to the vehicle being protected. ... A M1 Abrams firing. ...
Secondary armament	12.7mm coaxial M2HB machine gun 1,100 rounds 7.62mm machine gun 3,000 rounds This article is about the . ...
Mobility
Power plant	8-cylinder diesel Wärtsilä 1,500 hp (1,100 kW)
Suspension	hydropneumatic
Road speed	72 km/h
Power/weight	27 hp/tonne
Range	550 km

The gunners position, looking down from the turret roof.

The Leclerc is a main battle tank built by GIAT Industries of France. It was named in honour of General Philippe de Hauteclocque "Leclerc" who landed at Normandy and eventually led the drive towards Paris while in command of the Free French 2nd Armoured Division in World War II. Wärtsilä is a Finnish manufacturer of power plants (mainly diesel-powered) for use in electricity generation and ship power, and associated services. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (3072x2048, 646 KB) Work by Rama File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Leclerc Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (3072x2048, 646 KB) Work by Rama File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Leclerc Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner... The US M1A1 Abrams tank is a typical modern main battle tank. ... GIAT Industries (formerly known as Groupement des Industries de lArmée de Terre, Armys Industries Group) is a French government-owned weapon manufacturer. ... Philippe de Hauteclocque, often known by his French resistance alias Leclerc (November 22, 1902 - November 28, 1947), was a Marshal of France. ... Arms of the , the Second Armoured Division commanded by Lerclerc. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

The Leclerc is in service with the French Army and the army of the United Arab Emirates. In production since 1990, the Leclerc entered French service in 1992, replacing the venerable AMX 30 as the country's main armoured platform. With production now complete, the French Army has a total of 406 Leclercs and the United Arab Emirates Army has 388. The French Army (French: Armée de Terre) is the land-based component of the French Armed Forces. ... Overview Perhaps the most successful post-war French armored vehicle design, the AMX-30 main battle tank was designed by GIAT Industries with a focus on good firepower and superior mobility. ... The French Army (French: Armée de Terre) is the land-based component of the French Armed Forces. ... The Trucial Oman Scouts, long the symbol of public order on the coast and commanded by British officers, were turned over to the United Arab Emirates as its defense forces in 1971. ...

History

At the start of the 1970s, the AMX-30 was ageing and, in 1977, the French Army drafted a requirement for a new main battle tank, called "EPC" (Engin Principal de Combat). Importation of foreign materièl, like the M1 Abrams, the Leopard 2, or the Merkava was studied and rejected; a joint programme with Germany, based upon the Leopard 2, went astray in 1979 and studies for a national project started then. The AMX-30 is a main battle tank designed by GIAT Industries with a focus on good firepower and superior mobility and first delivered to the French Army in 1966. ... The M1 Abrams main battle tank is the principal combat tank of the United States Army and the United States Marine Corps, with three main versions being deployed starting in 1980: the M1, M1A1, and M1A2. ... The Leopard 2 is a German main battle tank built by the German company Krauss-Maffei-Wegmann, developed in the early 1970s and first entering service in 1979, replacing the earlier Leopard 1 as the foremost MBT in the Bundeswehr. ... For the religious/mystical connotations of the word, see Merkabah. ...

In contrast with most Western programmes, the stress was put on active, rather than passive protection, to limit the overall mass of the vehicle. Mobility for evading incoming fire and firing control were for particular attention.

Partnership with a foreign State was sought to limit the cost per unit, and this was found when the United Arab Emirates ordered 436 vehicles, adding to the 426 units already planned for the French Army.

In 1986, the project was started under the name of "Leclerc", six prototypes being built swiftly. Mass production started in 1990 with the four-unit first batch, used mainly for comparative tests in foreign countries. The 17 units of batches 2 and 3 were shipped, with improvements in the turret and in the hull armour. These units were diagnosed with problems in the engine and suspension, and were quickly retired.

Batches 4 and 5 were better finished, eliminating the recurrent problems in the powerplant, and are still in service, after having been refitted at the end of the 1990s. The second series started with batch 6, with an added climate control system in the right rear of the turret. Batch 7 introduced a transmission system to the command vehicle, and a data system giving instantaneous vision of the state of all battle tanks and acquired targets. It also incorporated minor improvements in the visor. Batch 8 was a modernisation of the electronic system, and batch 9 replaced the visor with a SAGEM Iris system with thermal imaging, which allows acquisition of targets at a greater range.

All previous batches will be modernised up to the standards of batch 9 from 2005. In 2004, batch 10 was presented, incorporating new information systems which could share the disposition of enemy and friendly units to all vehicles and new armour. This is the beginning of the 96-unit third series. By 2007, 355 tanks should be operational, 320 of them incorporated in 4 regiments each of 80 Leclerc vehicles.

The 4 regiments are:

- 6-12° Régiment de cuirassiers located near Orléans (2nd armored brigade)

- 1-11° Régiment de cuirassiers located near Marseilles ( 3rd mechanized brigade)

- 1-2° Régiment de chasseurs located near Verdun ( 7th armored brigade)

- 501-503° Régiment de chars de combat located at Mourmelon (1st mechanized brigade)

Characteristics

Armament

The Leclerc is equipped with a GIAT CN120-26 120mm smoothbore cannon. This cannon is theoretically capable of firing the same NATO standard 120mm rounds as the German Leopard 2 and US M1 Abrams, but in practice only custom French-produced ammunition is issued. The gun is insulated with a thermal sleeve and has an automatic compressed air fume extraction system instead of the usual fume extraction cylinder. The Leclerc has a unique autoloading system which was specifically designed for it, and reduces the crew to three by eliminating the human loader. The turret of the Leclerc was designed around the auto-loading system in order to avoid the problems common to other tanks with an autoloader. The Leclerc autoloader allows a rate of fire of 12 shots per minute and holds 22 rounds of ready ammunition; it can accommodate up to five different types of ammunition at once, although like most autoloader systems it cannot change ammunition types once a round has been loaded. The most common types are the armour piercing fin-stabilised discarding sabot (APFSDS) with a tungsten core and the high explosive anti-tank (HEAT) round. There are 18 other rounds available for reload. A Leclerc tank can fire while traveling at a speed of 50 km/h on a target 4,000 metres away (most autoloader-equipped tanks have to stop to reload). The gun is 52 calibres long instead of the 44 calibres common on most tanks of the Leclerc's generation, giving the rounds a higher muzzle velocity; on the other hand, the latest German and British tanks have 55 calibre guns which are even more powerful, and American tanks use advanced depleted-uranium penetrator rounds to compensate for their shorter guns. The Leopard 2 is a German main battle tank built by the German company Krauss-Maffei-Wegmann, developed in the early 1970s and first entering service in 1979, replacing the earlier Leopard 1 as the foremost MBT in the Bundeswehr. ... The M1 Abrams main battle tank is the principal combat tank of the United States Army and the United States Marine Corps, with three main versions being deployed starting in 1980: the M1, M1A1, and M1A2. ... An auto-loader or autoloader is a mechanical aid or replacement for the personnel that load ordnance into crew-served weapons, such as tanks and artillery. ... A kinetic energy penetrator, long-rod penetrator, or APFSDS (Armour Piercing Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabot) is a type of ammunition which, like a bullet, does not contain explosives, but uses kinetic energy to penetrate the target. ... A HEAT round. ...

The Leclerc is also equipped with a 12.7 mm coaxial machine gun and a remote-controlled 7.62mm antiaircraft machine gun, whereas most other NATO tanks use 7.62mm weapons for both their coaxial and top machine gun mounts; the major exception is the American M1 Abrams, which has a 7.62mm coaxial machine gun and two top-mounted machine guns, one 7.62mm and one 12.7mm.

Protection

The Leclerc has the Galix combat vehicle protection system from GIAT, which fires a variety of smoke grenades and infra red screening rounds, as well as anti-personnel grenades. GIAT Industries (formerly known as Groupement des Industries de lArmée de Terre, Group of the Industries of the ground Army) is a French government-owned weapon manufacturer. ... A hand grenade is a hand-held bomb, made to be thrown by a soldier. ... An anti-personnel weapon is one primarily used to injure or kill people. ...

The hull and the turret are made of welded steel fitted with modular armour, which can be replaced easily for repair or upgrades over the years. The French army in the late seventies rejected Chobham armour as being overly specialised in its optimisation to defeat hollow charge-weapons; it therefore opted to develop a steel perforated armour system, comparable to that on the early Leopard 2. When the Leclerc was introduced in the early nineties this was still considered adequate, due to the larger thickness of its modules compared to the armour of other modern western tanks, made possible — for a given weight limit — by the compact design of the tank as a whole. However during the nineties standards for tank armour protection increased, as exemplified by the Leopard 2A5, its main rival on the export market, being fitted with an additional spaced armour system. Thus it was decided to follow the Germans (Leopard 2A4) and British (Challenger 2) in their application of a titanium-tungsten system, which was introduced to the Leclerc in 2001, in Batch 10. The inner spaces are filled with NERA. Chobham armour is a composite armour developed at the British tank research centre on Chobham Common. ... A shaped charge is an explosive charge shaped to focus the released energy. ... A destroyed M113 armoured personnel carrier show a section of the armour. ... The Leopard 2 is a German main battle tank built by the German company Krauss-Maffei-Wegmann, developed in the early 1970s and first entering service in 1979, replacing the earlier Leopard 1 as the foremost MBT in the Bundeswehr. ... The Challenger 2 is the most recent main battle tank in service with the United Kingdom and Oman. ... M60A1 Patton tank with Israeli Blazer ERA. T-72 battle tank layered with reactive armour bricks Reactive armour is a type of vehicle armour that reacts in some way to the impact of a weapon to reduce the damage done to the vehicle being protected. ...

Fire control and observation

Note the commanders sight on the right and gunners side on the left side of the picture.

External fuel tanks mounted on the rear of the Leclerc.

The Leclerc has a FINDERS battle management system and an ICONE TIS digital communication system which integrates data from other tanks and upper levels of command. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2048x2048, 588 KB) Work by Rama File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Leclerc Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2048x2048, 588 KB) Work by Rama File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Leclerc Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner... Image File history File links File links The following pages link to this file: Leclerc ... Image File history File links File links The following pages link to this file: Leclerc ...

The Leclerc' digital fire control system can be operated independently by the gunner or the commander, and it offers real time integrated imaging from all of the tank's sensors and sights, including the gunner's SAVAN 20 stabilised sight, developed by SAGEM and the driver's night/day OB-60 vision system from Thales Optrosys. The system can track six targets concurrently and is very much like a similar system made by the same company for the Challenger 2 tank of the United Kingdom.

Propulsion

The Leclerc has an eight-cylinder, Wärtsilä (ex SACM) V8X-1500 1,500 hp Hyperbar diesel engine and a SESM ESM 500 automatic transmission, with five forward and two reverse gears. The official maximum speed by road is 72 km/h and 55 km/h cross country (speeds in excess of 80 km/h were reported on road). The maximum range is given as 550 km, and can be extended to 650 km with removable external tanks. The "hyperbar" system integrates a Turbomeca TM 307B gas turbine in the engine, acting both as a turbocharger and an APU giving auxiliary power to all systems when the main engine is shut down. Wärtsilä is a Finnish manufacturer of power plants (mainly diesel-powered) for use in electricity generation and ship power, and associated services. ...

At a combat weight of just 56 tons, the Leclerc is one of the lightest main battle tanks in the world; this gives it one of the best power-to-weight ratios among the Western tanks (27 hp per tonne) and makes it one of the fastest MBTs of its generation (0 to 32 km/h in 5 seconds).

The engine exhaust, exiting at the rear left, is cooled to reduce the thermal signature of the tank. Transmission is a hydromechanical type with five forward and two reverse gears. Fuel tanks carry 1,300 litres and act as extra protection; two 200-litre external tanks can be fitted on the rear of the turret, but have to be jettisoned before entering combat since they limit turret rotation.

The gear box is equipped with a hydrokinetic retarder which can slow the Leclerc down at a de-acceleration rate of 7 m/s² (0.7 g) which can be very useful at the last moment before it could be hit. The crew must be strapped in safely with their harness to use this.

A Leclerc on manoeuvres.

Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1280x851, 211 KB) Author : Daniel Steger (Lausanne,Switzerland) Source: [1] File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Leclerc Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1280x851, 211 KB) Author : Daniel Steger (Lausanne,Switzerland) Source: [1] File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Leclerc Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the...

Combat experience

The first Leclerc were commissioned in 1992, too late for the 1991 Gulf war, and have not been used in all-out war.

As for "low-intensity conflicts", 15 Leclerc have been deployed in Kosovo in the context of UN peace-keeping operations, where their performances were judged satisfactory by the French parliament. Kosovo (Serbian: Косово и Метохија or Kosovo i Metohija, also Космет or Kosmet; Albanian: Kosovë or Kosova) is a province in southern Serbia which has been under United Nations administration since 1999. ...

Currently 13 Leclerc are deployed in the south Lebanon for a peacekeeping mission with the UNIFIL. UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Forces In Lebanon) was created in 1978 by the United Nations to confirm Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, restore the international peace and security, and help the Lebanese Government restore its effective authority in the area. ...

Variants

• Leclerc AZUR: Action en Zone Urbaine, "Improve fighting ability in urban environments"
• Leclerc EPG: Engin Principal du Génie, "Main vehicle of Engineering": armoured engineering
• Leclerc DNG: Dépanneur Nouvelle Génération: repair tank
• Leclerc MARS: Moyen Adapté de Remorquage Spécifique: tugboat tank
• "Tropicalised" version of the United Arab Emirates; it is fitted with:
  • EuroPowerPack with the MTU 883 diesel engine of 1,100 kW. The United Arab Emirates have interests in the German company which builds them (MTU) and prefer an engine of their own. This powerplant is more reliable than the French UDV 8X (1,500 HP), though it has small problems with the clutch.
  • Completely automised driving and turret functions, for use by crew with only basic training.
  • Mechanical climatisation, as to cool the tank without the use of electric current which could reveal the position of the tank
  • Infra-red camera for night operations
  • Navigation system with a 3D map
  • Communication system to allow headquarters to know the position of the tank

The Engin Principal du Génie is an armoured engineering vehicle built upon the chassis of the Leclerc battle tank. ... The Char de dépannage DNG/DCL is an armoured recovery vehicle built upon the chassis of the Leclerc battle tank. ... The EuroPowerPack is the combination of the MTU MT 883 diesel-engine delivering over 1100 kW shaft power with the five-speed Renk HSWL 295TM automatic transmission for the use in heavy tracked vehicles like tanks. ... MTU Friedrichshafen GmbH is a manufacturer of commercial engines. ... For other uses, see Clutch (disambiguation). ...

Literature

• Marc Chassilan, 2005, Char Leclerc: De la guerre froide aux conflits de demain.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Leclerc

• (French) www.chars-francais.net (in French; numerous photographs, including interior)
• Leclerc at army-guide.com
• Leclerc program update

Modern tanks
Ariete | Arjun | Challenger 2 | Ch'onma-ho | K1 | Leclerc | Leopard 2 | M1 Abrams | / MBT 2000 M-84 | Merkava | PT-91 Twardy | T-80 | T-84 | T-90 | Type 90 | Type 96 | Type 99 | Zulfigar