Leopard C1
The Leopard C1 is Canada's Main Battle Tank (MBT). It is based on the
Leopard 1A3 which was the first to use a welded turret of spaced armour.
This means the space between the armour is filled with a material to make
hollow charge ammunition less effective.
Canada was in need of a new MBT because the older Cebturon had exhausted
it's usefulness. They choose the Leopard because it was a all around good
tank, was locally developed near a Canadian base in West Germany and is
was reliable. Because of these qualitites Canada placed order for 128 Leopards
in total. 114 of them would be MBTs, 8 of them would be armoured recovery
vehicles and 6 of them would be armoured bridge layers.
The Leopard has the ability to move and shot. This is done by using
the Electronic Gyroscope gun Stabalizer. It can be sealed off from nuclear
hazards and contamination and it has a minimum maintainance.
Specifications
Length-
- gun facing back- 8.17 m
- gun facing front- 9.54 m
Width- 3.37 m
Height- 2.62 m
Weight- 46 tonnes
Speed- 65 kp/h
Range- 600 km
Crew- 4 (commander, gunner and loader/radio operater in turret and driver
in front right)
NBC- Yes
Water Forging-
- 1.20 m normally
- 2.25 m if special equipment placed
- 4 m with deep fording shaft and bilge pumps
Produced- 1978
Armament
The Leopard C1 is armed with a British made L7A3 105 mm cannon. From
this cannon the Leopard can fire APDS (armour piercing discarding sabot),
HEAT (high explosive anti-tank), and HESH (high explosive squash head).
It also has 76 mm smoke cannisters and illumination cannisters.
To use the weapons, the Leopard has a belgian fire computer. This computer
utilizes a laser range finder for more accurate firing.
The Leopard is also equipt with a coaxial C6 7.62 mm machine gun and
a free moving machine gun.
Ammo Types-
- Armour Piercing Fin Stabalized Discarding Sabot
- Armour Piercing Discarding Sabot
- High Explosive Squash Head
- High Explosive Plastic
- High Explosive Anti-Tank
- 2 banks of 4 smoke grenades
Locations in the Beginning
- 77 MBTs, 4 bridge layers and 4 armoured recovery vehicles to the
4th Canadian Mechanized Brigade group located in Germany
- 37 MBTs, 2 bridge layers and 4 recovery vehicles went to CFB Gagetown
and CFB Borden for training