Leopard 2A4 Main Battle Tank (Infographics)

Ahhh the good oll times

The A4 was the last Leopard 2 production model before the Germans started to radically improve the Leo 2’s armor with the A5, the gun with the A6 and then even more armor upgrades with the A7. The Bundeswehr produced a few of these new variants, upgraded a couple of the A4’s to the A5/A6 variant and currently A7 mark, and handed the rest down to other NATO countries. Who then almost all proceeded to upgrade theirs to similar A5/A6 variations.

Only the Turks chose to keep theirs as they were, as they did to most of their M-60 inventory. And then chose to send their tankers out to soak up ATGW’s and die in Syria, a country which they themselves helped to become innundated with ATGW’s. Talk about both monumental stupidity and delicious irony. As it turns out the Turks are like any Middle Eastern Arab army, thinking that just because they have shitloads of tanks their army is also good. Which it might have been if goat fucker Erdogan (no insult to goat fuckers intended) hadn’t gutted the Turkish armed forces by purging its competent officers and replacing them with loyal bootlickers. But then again it were those same Turkish generals who before they got purged who in the 90’s and 00’s neglected to upgrade their handmedown tanks from the US and Germany. So maybe the rot was already there to begin with.

In essence the Leopard 2 is a great tank, if kept up to date and when handled well. In competent hands even the outdated Leo2A4 would probably perform well, if kept up to date it might have survived the hail of ISIS ATGW’s that hit them at Al Bab. But they weren’t kept up to date and weren’t handled well. So shit hit the fan instead. Making Kraus-Maffei very sad campers. Because your reputation as a manufacturer is only as good as the monkeys that handle it poorly.