Difference between revisions of "Leopard 1"

Development of the Leopard tank started in 1956 as a part of a joint project between Germany, France and Italy to create a new standard European tank (a.k.a. the Europa-Panzer). In 1960 Porsche, Rheinmetall (Germany) and AMX (France) submitted prototype tanks for evaluation. Disagreements in the design and manufacturer of the tank put a strain on the project and political changes in France further exacerbated problems. So Germany and France decided to end the partnership and continue development of their own designs independently. For Germany Porsche's design was chosen and after a second prototype and a limited run of 50 pre-production vehicles it started mass-production as the Leopard tank in 1964. The Leopard went on to also became a huge success on the export market, being bought by many European countries thus largely fulfilling it's originally intended role of being a standard European tank. While being largely replaced by the Leopard 2 in Europe the Leopard 1 is currently still in active service in several South-American countries.

References

• Wikipedia