(Athens) Greece has a fairly large tank force consisting on paper of:
353 Leopard 2 (mix of A6 HEL and A4)
520 Leopard 1A5
392 M48A5
100 M60A3
Having a belligerent neighbour in Turkey hasn't afforded Greece the luxury to cut back on its military like European countries' to the West have done these past 30 years (But as we have seen that mindset has changed since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022). In fact Turkey has actively spent a lot of time rearming over the same time, problem for Greece, it really cant afford to spend money purchasing new tanks to replace its older ones such as the 520 Leopard 1A5 tanks it has in its inventory .
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| Greek Leopard 1A5 |
So in 2022 it asked Industry for solutions regards upgrading the Leopard 1s. First off the bat was Italy with a proposal (as offered to Brazil regards upgrading its Leopard 1 tanks) to fit the turret of the Centauro 2 tank killer onto the chassis of the Leopard 1
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| Centauro 2 |
The otherday Greek company EODH, in collaboration with
Belgian-Spanish DUMA and German KNDS revealed the Leopard 1HEL concept . This entails fitting a new 1,000-horsepower
engine, upgrading the drivetrain, and suspension systems, which will see higher
on- and off-road speeds and better obstacle-crossing capabilities.
It also involves updating the tank's turret
and hull with advanced systems and technologies whilst retaining the 105mm
cannon, which will allow for the large stockpile of existing ammunition to not
go to waste. For protection (with lessons learnt in the Ukraine) the latest
reactive and passive armour will be fitted, which will be backed up by an active protection sensor suite all of
which will increase the weight of the tank to 46 tonnes.
