Leopard 2 (German: Leopard) is a German main battle tank of the third generation. The tank began to be developed in 1968 by the Krauss-Maffei company, in 1970 German Defense Minister Helmut Schmidt made it the basis for a prospective battle tank for the Bundeswehr, in 1972 the first prototypes were built. In 1976, the Leopard 2 AV prototype underwent comparative tests together with the XM1 prototype at the Aberdeen test site in the USA. The first serial Leopard 2 tank was handed over to the German army on October 25, 1979. Due to high firepower, constant improvement of ammunition, good protection, high accuracy of firing (including on the move), high-quality surveillance devices, the tank is in great demand on the export market. After the end of the Cold War, Germany and the two other early tank operators, the Netherlands and Switzerland, began to offer tanks for export from their armed forces. As a result, the tank is in service with 14 European countries, as well as Canada, Turkey, Qatar, Singapore and Chile, the tank fleet of the Bundeswehr was reduced from 2,125 to 328 units, and the Netherlands completely abandoned armored troops. Due to the wide geography of the operating countries, some of which produced tanks on their own territory, there are a large number of tank modifications and modernization projects, the most common is the 2A4 modification and its modernization, and the most modern serial one is the 2A7V. By 2015, more than 3,600 tanks of this type had been produced.
Paints and glue are not included in the set
