Europe's Armies Upgrading Heavy Forces.

• Author: Tiran, Roxana
• Position: Combat vehicles

Tanks expected to remain in European fleets for the next two decades

As the U.S. Army continues to modernize its 20 year-old fleet of Abrams tanks, its European counterparts in Germany, France, England and Russia also are striving to upgrade their heavy combat vehicles to make them more lethal and survivable.

Even though military priorities have changed, these countries still plan to maintain their heavy armored forces. "In Europe, the chance of a major confrontation between East and West has now probably passed for good," said Christopher Foss, editor of Jane's Armored Vehicles. "But most countries will still maintain fleets of main battle tanks for the next 20 years at least."

Germany is working on upgrades of the Leopard 2 tank, from the A5 to the A6 configuration. Col. Werner Gruhl, the German liaison at Fort Knox, Ky., said that his country does not plan to buy a new main battle tank. Currently, the German Armor Corps uses 2,300 tanks in 20 active and eight non-active battalions, according to Lt. Col. Ulf Bartels, who spoke at a recent Armor Conference in Fort Knox. The force will be downsized to 13 battalions in the future.

The first Leopard 2A6 main battle tank was delivered to the German Army in March at the Krauss-Maffei Wegmann facility in Munich. About 350 A6 tanks will be produced, said Bartels. The vehicle weighs 60.1 tons.

The A6 offers more protection for the crew and more firepower, said Gruhl. A new smoothbore gun has been developed by Rheinmetall GmbH of Ratingen, Germany. The 120 mm L55 gun will replace the shorter 120 mm L44 smoothbore tank gun.

The L55 smoothbore gun is compatible with modern 120 mm ammunition and with advanced high penetration ammunition, said the manufacturers. The A6 also has improved mine protection and an air-conditioning system, said Barrels. By 2004, he said, 205 main battle tanks will receive mine-protection capability.

"This improvement shall result from an externally adapted reinforcement of the floor plate, a fixing of the torsion bars and the removal or reinforcement of all floor fixtures," he said.

A camera with a 65-degree horizontal and vertical field of view positioned at the rear of the vehicle, together with a television monitor, allows the driver to reverse at high speed, without receiving directions from the commander. This also allows the tank crew to see potential snipers hiding behind the tank.

"In the past, we said: 'Thanks, we won't go into a town or city,'" said Gruhl. "But today, we say that tanks have to go to these...