In the world of ground forces there are many different vehicles to choose from but in history
There are two countries that have been known for their tank support
Dating back to even the first world war and with the introduction of the Second World War
German and American tanks have always been a bit of rivals
But in the modern world that things are way different and with that we take Germany's famous leopard 2 and stack it
Against the great American m1 Abrams and to see what are the differences between them?
What each one has and the other does not and maybe ask the question which one is better? And which one is worse?
How's it going? All your lovely viewers?
My name is Dave Walpole and welcome to FTD facts the channel where I look at people countries cultures
And in this case, we take different types of militaries and compare them to see what the differences are
now this is kind of a sequel video to our previous one where we talked about one of the versions of the leopard 2 and
That is the straight Bond 122, which is Sweden's version of a leopard 2 and man. It is dangerous
That being said if you guys are big military buffs and you guys like learning about that sort of stuff
Well, you want to check out some of our playlists
I'm gonna put it down there in the description box below and in some of the cards show at this video
Which will be above my head at any time
Feel free to check them out now starting off with the leopard 2 it is what I like to call supreme
German engineering they know how to make cars. They know how to make tanks
They know how to make a lot of different things
partially due to the fact that in the 80s Germany decided to ignore the dot-com sort of internet stuff that
America was focused on and they went all with gear
Technology and that sort of thing but as for the leopard 2 it is basically a major improved version of the leopard 1 tank
What I mean by that is they took the good aspects of the leopard 1 and made a whole brand new tank
The leopard 2 was introduced in
1979 and if you look at some of the leopard 2's from around the world you'll notice that some of them are a little bit
Different this is because any version from the leopard 2a4 and prior have more of a square fronted turret
Whereas the leopard 2a5 and upward has more of a classy angled Arrowhead sort of turret
Which many may think might be better for deflection but not necessarily true and I'm gonna get into that in this video now
What's very interesting about the leopard too? Is that for Germany when the leopard one came out?
They immediately knew that they already needed another new form of tank and with that around
1967 Germany had invested thirty million Deutschmarks into looking for a new design and
Upgrade and on a side note one of the major competitors
That was a driving force for this new tank was the American and German made
mbt-70 basically they were like
we want to be able to match this thing or completely defeat it and also on a side note again when it comes to the
Mbt-70, it's also a driving force for the Abrams because America really wasn't happy with that tank either the problem with the mbt-70
It was a big tank. It was very heavy. And of course for both sides it costs a lot
so Germany and America were like we need to figure out ways to
Make a more cost-effective tank and although america had introduced to the tank known as the XM
803 these two tanks were cancelled by america in
1971 and within that same year funds were put into what was known as the x m1 abrams program
which was named after General Crichton Abrams now one thing I found very
fascinating about the leopard one and the Abrams was the fact that because of the amount of
development that had gone into both of these tanks individually in
1973 it was because of their past work you got NATO
standardization on tanks
the reason for that was because in 1973 German and American defense ministers decided that NATO should have a
standardization for the tanks using technologies that were developed already from both programs and by
1974 both countries had signed an agreement that these two tanks should be trialed against each other and for the leopard 2 it was on
October 25th
1979 that the government had accepted and received its first batch of
380 to be exact krauss-maffei leopard 2 tanks
And as for the chrysler defense made m1 abrams
They came into service in 1980 interesting enough
The original tank didn't have the 120 millimeter gun that is on the tanks. Now it had a
105 millimeter cannon instead, but however with that the m1 Abrams was the first tank in the world to use
What is known as Chobham armor?
which was very very revolutionary for the time the m1 Abrams proved to be so successful that from 1979 to
85 America had built three thousand two hundred and seventy three of these tanks
however
in 1986
They changed out the barrel to use the 120 millimeter Rheinmetall barrel that was used very similarly on the leopard 2
So now that we got a little bit of the history behind them
It's really quite interesting that they were both kind of brought up together. Whatever your thoughts on which one is better
I always like to think of the leopard 2 and the Abrams kind of as brothers being raised in the same house
However with that let's get into variants. Let's talk about different things that are offered between different types
And of course, I'm not going to list off every single one because for the leopard 2
It has at least 14 different versions that are currently out or are currently in production
One of the variants that is very unique compared to the rest of them that I really want to mention and I did mention prior
is the strip on 122 or the leopard 2's that Sweden makes but however
One of the biggest changes was when the leopard 2 came out with the leopard 2a4 for this variant there were major overhauls
They introduced an automated fire and explosion suppression system
there were also many upgrades that were taken from the 2 a 3 there was also a titanium tungsten armor upgrade and
basically from that moment on the leopard 2a4 became standard and
Every vehicle prior became upgraded to that version as a matter of fact
There are a lot of leopard 2a4 s that are around today simply because in the year
2000 Germany and the Netherlands
Had a lot of these in storage doing nothing and they decided you know what we got to sell these to other countries
However, I'm gonna talk about operational history a little bit later because shortly after the 2a4 was introduced
They upgraded to the new 2 a5 which got a major new look and designed with the wedge Arrowhead shape
Look, there were also new liners put inside the craft to prevent fragments from penetrating
Now this new wedge-shaped design a lot of people think oh, it's you know made for more deflections
That's not necessarily true
The original base shape of the armor on the leopard 2a4 is capable of deflecting quite well the 2a5
I like to describe more or less as kind of a pillow or a cushion for incoming shots
basically, it prevents incoming fire from hitting the armored base and causes the kinetic penetrators to change in direction or simply
Erode there's a lot of science behind this whole thing
But from my understanding the wedge shape is not made to make it go boom and deflect after that
There was the introduction of the 2 a6 which has enhanced mind protection and crew survivability
Enhancements there are also many other upgrades that were pretty much considered now the standard and of course
There's countries like Canada that have done two major modifications to the two a6 to make it their own
Also the strings Vaughn to ass going back to that. It's considered one of the most armored versions of a leopard 2
there's also the leopard 2 a7 and the
a7 plus which recently Qatar and Hungary have been considered the largest buyers of this variant the m1 a1 however has
28 different versions
However, keep in mind there are seven major ones, but only three of those are realistically practical use where the other ones are more
Experimental and those three are the m1 the m1 a1 and the m1a2
For example under the m1 a1 it has 10 versions alone
Including the original the m1a2 has 7 including its original as well in which some of them are still under development
For the m1 a1 however, there are many different upgrades
But one of the biggest one was the barrel that I was talking about this one began production in 1985
And that's when they added the 120 smoothbore cannon on top of that
They also upgraded the NBC system improved stowage and of course redesigned the blow-off panels
however
The m1a2 which is more or less the common one that we see today it brought in an independent
Thermal sight for the tank commanders meaning that it could shoot at two targets at once
Without the need to acquire one individually do not ask me how that works
That seems like you have two eyes looking in two different directions
It also added the very updated and extraordinarily tough depleted uranium armor components
Which also have graphite coating on them?
They also improve the counter IEDs armor improved on the FL I are abilities added
Passive ballistic protection to some other versions on the m1a2 turret and of course there were much more
It's quite an impressive list as for one of the newer ones which is the m1 a3. It is considered still in development
And there's not a lot of information about it
Alright, so now that we got variants out of the way, let's look at the operational history for the leopard 2 tank
It is operated within 18 different countries. These are the countries of Austria Canada Chile Denmark, Finland Germany, of course
Greece Indonesia
The Netherlands which that one is a little bit tricky to understand because they've gotten rid of a lot of their tanks
But they do have a division that's linked with a German unit. So that's kind of how it works
There's also Norway Poland Portugal Qatar Singapore Spain, Sweden, Switzerland
Switzerland also don't really have any of them. They've put most of them in storage from my understanding
They're going more for wheeled tracked kind of vehicles and last but not least
Let's not forget the country of Turkey for the m1 Abrams
It is operated in far less countries equaling seven thes other countries of Australia Egypt Iraq
Kuwait Saudi Arabia Morocco, and of course the United States of America, however
When it comes to the amount of these tanks being built, let's be real
There's far more abrams around the world than there are leopard two's
Although it is hard to get an accurate figure of how many of these have been made
for the leopard 2 they say there is greater than
3,200 of them been made and for the m1 abrams they say there's approximately 10,000
288. Alright, let's move right along. Let's look at some of the statistics now the leopard 2 for armor has what is known as third-generation?
composite including a high hardness steel tungsten and plastic filler with ceramic
Components the m1a2 however uses what is known as depleted uranium mesh
reinforced composite armor as for armaments the leopard 2 uses the one x
120-millimeter smoothbore
Rheinmetall with approximately 42 rounds on top of that. It has a 2 x 7 62 german-made
mg3 with approximately
4,000 750 rounds the m1a2 however, so uses the 120-millimeter smoothbore
Rheinmetall gun with 42 rounds as well and with machine guns
They have the exact same amount two times of them using the same caliber. That is 760 - however, they use the
M240 one major upside of the m1 a1 it has more machine-gun rounds coming in at ten thousand four hundred speed
However, the leopard 2 is a little bit faster, but not by much
This is because the leopard 2 comes in at 68 km/h at its best and the m1a2 comes in at 67 km/h
Keep in mind that is on-road that is not offroad at doing anything crazy like that. It is much slower
Of course also with the operational range. It is far less for the leopard 2 coming in at
340 kilometers whereas the leopard m1a2 with its gas tanks can come in at
436 kilometers and for some of the technical statistics for the leopard 2a6 it is manned by a crew of four
It has a length of ten decimal nine seven meters with a width of three
decimal seven six meters at a height of three decimal zero three meters its combat weight comes in at sixty two point five tonnes and
Its turret rotation of 360 degrees can be done in nine to ten seconds looking now at the m1a2
Se P version of the Abrams it is crewed with four individuals
It also has a length of nine point seven seven meters being a little bit smaller
It's also a bit smaller in width
Coming in at three point seven meters and much smaller in its height at two point four meters
Its combat weight is a little bit heavier at 63 tonnes and for its turret rotation 360 degrees
It is said to be anywhere between nine to ten seconds as well
See what I mean by they're kind of like brothers that kind of are capable of doing the same thing
It's kind of interesting and to finish it all off when it comes to cost for a leopard 2a6 in 2007
It came in at five point seven four million dollars
We're an m1 a - at least in 1999 came in at six point two one million u.s
Dollars, so there you have it guys. That's me looking at these two great amazing tanks. What are your thoughts on it?
Do you think one is better than the other I can definitely say this there are more Abrams out there in the world
Then there are leopards twos either way before you guys get out of here. Be sure to check out our military playlists
They're gonna be down there in the description box below
Up there in the boxes or at the end of this one and speaking of down there while you guys are down there
In the comments section you might as well leave a thought on your favorite one
And of course probably while you're down there you might as well leave us a suggestion for a future
Comparison video or just any type of video that you want us?
To learn and teach you guys and teach other people about my name is de bois. I'll see you guys the next one
It's been awesome hanging out with you. Bye. Bye
Ok guys so here are those videos that I was telling you about be sure to check out these playlists
You guys are gonna like learning about different militaries around the world. It's good to be educated. You know what I mean?
So feel free to check them out. I will see you guys later. Bye