Leclerc

The Leclerc is a main battle tank built by GIAT Industries of France. It was named in honour of General Philippe de Hauteclocque "Leclerc" who landed at Normandy and eventually led the drive towards Paris while in command of the Free French 2nd Armoured Division in World War II.

The Leclerc is in service with the French Army and the army of the United Arab Emirates. In production since 1990, the Leclerc entered French service in 1992, replacing the venerable AMX 30 as the country's main armoured platform. With production now complete, the French Army has a total of 406 Leclercs and the United Arab Emirates Army has 388.

History

At the start of the 1970s, the AMX-30 was ageing and, in 1977, the French Army drafted a requirement for a new main battle tank, called "EPC" (Engin Principal de Combat). Importation of foreign matériel, like the M1 Abrams, the Leopard 2, or the Merkava was studied and rejected; a joint programme with Germany, based upon the Leopard 2, went astray in 1979 and studies for a national project started then.

In contrast with most Western programmes, the stress was put on active, rather than passive protection, to limit the overall mass of the vehicle. Mobility for evading incoming fire and firing control were for particular attention. Partnership with a foreign State was sought to limit the cost per unit, and this was found when the United Arab Emirates ordered 390 vehicles, adding to the 426 units already planned for the French Army.

In 1986, the project was started under the name of "Leclerc", six prototypes being built swiftly. Mass production started in 1990 with the four-unit first batch, used mainly for comparative tests in foreign countries. The 17 units of batches 2 and 3 were shipped, with improvements in the turret and in the hull armour. These units were diagnosed with problems in the engine and suspension, and were quickly retired.

Batches 4 and 5 were better finished, eliminating the recurrent problems in the powerplant, and are still in service, after having been refitted at the end of the 1990s. The second series started with batch 6, with an added climate control system in the right rear of the turret. Batch 7 introduced a transmission system to the command vehicle, a VAB, giving instantaneous vision of the state of all battle tanks and acquired targets. It also incorporated minor improvements in the visor. Batch 8 was a modernisation of the electronic system, and batch 9 replaced the visor with a SAGEM Iris system with thermal imaging, which allows acquisition of targets at a greater range.

All previous batches will be modernised up to the standards of batch 9 from 2005. In 2004, batch 10 was presented, incorporating new information systems which could share the disposition of enemy and friendly units to all vehicles and new armour. This is the beginning of the 96-unit third series. By 2007, 355 tanks should be operational, 320 of them incorprated in 4 regiments each of 80 Leclerc vehicles.

Characteristics

Armament

The Leclerc is equipped with a smooth bore 120 mm tank gun CN120-26 from GIAT. A complete range of rounds has been specially developed for it but the gun is designed to be able to use the 120 mm rounds used in the German Leopard 2 and US M1 Abrams. It is insulated with a thermal sleeve. The gun has an automatic compressed air system instead of the usual fume extraction cylinder. The Leclerc has a unique autoloading system which was specifically designed for it, and reduces the crew to 3 by eliminating the human loader. The turret of the Leclerc was designed around the auto-loading system in order to avoid the problems common to other tanks with an autoloader. The Leclerc autoloader allows a rate of fire of 12 shots per minute and holds 22 rounds of ammo, which can be of 5 different types, all of which are available for selection at the same time. The most common types are the armour piercing fin-stabilised discarding sabot (APFSDS) with a tungsten core and the high explosive anti-tank (HEAT) round. There are 18 other rounds available for reload. A Leclerc tank can fire while traveling at a speed of 40 km/h on a target 4,000 metres away and traveling at 60 km/h (most modern tanks can accurately fire at around 15 km/h and have to stop to reload). The gun is 52 calibres long instead of the 44 calibres which is the common length of barrel for many modern tanks; this gives the rounds a higher muzzle velocity.

The Leclerc is also equipped with a 12.7 mm coaxial machine gun, instead of the smaller coaxial weapon usually common in other tanks. On top of the turret there is a 7.62 mm anti-aircraft machine gun, which has an armored casing and is controlled from within the tank.

Self-protection

The Leclerc has the Galix combat vehicle protection system from GIAT, which fires a variety of smoke grenades and infra red screening rounds.

The hull and the turret are made of welded steel fitted with modular armour, which can be replaced easily for repair or upgrades over the years.

Fire control and observation

The Leclerc has a FINDERS battle management system and an ICONE TIS digital communication system which integrates data from other tanks and upper levels of command.

The Leclerc' digital fire control system can be operated independently by the gunner or the commander, and it offers real time integrated imaging from all of the tank's sensors and sights, including the gunner's SAVAN 20 stabilised sight, developed by SAGEM and the driver's night/day OB-60 vision system from Thales Optrosys. The system can track six targets concurrently and is very much like a similar system made by the same company for the Challenger 2 tank of the United Kingdom.

Propulsion

The Leclerc has an eight-cylinder, Wärtsilä (ex SACM) V8X-1500 1,500 hp diesel engine and a SESM ESM 500 automatic transmission, with five forward and two reverse gears. The maximum speed by road is 70 km/h and 50 km/h cross country. The maximum range is given as 550 km, and can be extended to 650 km with removable external tanks.

There is also a Turbomeca TM 307B gas turbine giving auxiliary power to all systems when the main engine is shut down for routine or emergency maintenance.

The Leclerc has an unusually high power to weight ratio of 28.3 hp per ton (21 W/kg), making it one of the fastest main battle tanks in the world's major armies: it can accelerate from 0 to 32 km/h within 5 seconds. At a combat weight of 56 tons the Leclerc is one of the lightest main battle tanks in the world.

The engine exhaust, exiting at the rear left, is cooled to reduce the thermal signature of the tank. Transmission is a hydromechanical type with five forward and two reverse gears. Fuel tanks carry 1,300 litres and act as extra protection; two 200-litre external tanks can be fitted on the rear of the turret, but have to be jettisoned before entering combat since they limit turret rotation.

The gear box is equipped with a hydrokinetic retarder which can slow the Leclerc down at a de-acceleration rate of 7 m/s² (0.7 g) which can be very useful at the last moment before it could be hit. The crew must be strapped in safely with their harness to use this.

Combat experience

The first Leclerc were commissioned in 1992, too late for the 1991 Gulf war, and have not been used in all-out war.

As for "low-intensity conflicts", 15 Leclerc have been deployed in Kosovo in the context of UN peace-keeping operations, where their performances were judged satisfactory by the French parliament.

Variants

Leclerc EPG: Engin Principal du Génie, "Main vehicle of Engineering": armoured engineering
Leclerc DNG : Dépanneur Nouvelle Génération: repair tank
Leclerc MARS : Moyen Adapté de Remorquage Spécifique: tugboat tank
"Tropicalised" version of the United Arab Emirates; it is fitted with:
- EuroPowerPack with the MTU 883 diesel engine of 1,100 kW. The United Arab Emirates have interests in the German company which builds them (MTU) and prefer an engine of their own. This powerplant is more reliable than the French UDV 8X (1,500 HP), though it has small problems with the clutch.
- Completely automised driving and turret functions, for use by an illiterate crew.
- Mechanical climatisation, as to cool the tank without the use of electric current which could reveal the position of the tank
- Infra-red camera for night operations
- Navigation system with a 3D map
- Communication system to allow headquarters to know the position of the tank

External links

www.chars-francais.net (in French; numerous photographs, including interior)
Leclerc at army-guide.com
Leclerc program update

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