Germany’s Rheinmetall has offered its first new battle tank for the reason that Nineteen Seventies the KF51 Panther – a successor to the Leopard and Leopard II of the Chilly Warfare period with a reputation recalling the Nazi period Panzerkampfwagen V Panther that served from 1943. The automobile’s look has been broadly alleged to be timed to comply with the outbreak of conflict in Ukraine earlier within the yr which led to newfound significance being attributed to armoured warfare in Europe. Rheinmetall has been alleged to be engaged on a brand new tank since a minimum of 2014-15, when an increase in hostilities with Russia adopted by an unveiling of the Russian T-14 Armata subsequent era tank was seen to have added urgency to such a program. Unveiled on the Eurosatory land defence exhibition in Paris, the automobile follows the pattern set for subsequent era automobiles by the T-14 of getting an unmanned turret to facilitate a lowered weight and accommodate a bigger most important gun. Additionally just like the T-14, this expertise has been touted as a path to probably creating the Panther into a totally unmanned tank in future. Whereas Soviet tanks have adopted autoloaders for the reason that Nineteen Sixties, that are immediately widespread to all non-Western tank designs, the Panther is the second Western tank after the French Leclerc to make use of such a system which can facilitate a quicker charge of fireside and a crew discount from three to 4. Though largely new, the tank isn’t a wholly clear sheet design with its hull being based mostly on the Leopard 2 from the Nineteen Seventies.
The place 125mm weapons arm most trendy Russian, Chinese language and North Korean tanks, with the T-14 anticipated to combine a 152mm gun in future, the Panther has been extra modestly up gunned from the NATO commonplace 120mm to a 130mm gun – the Rheinmetall Future Gun System. This follows plans within the Nineteen Eighties for the U.S. Army to combine its M1 Abrams tank with a 140mm gun which by no means materialised, however might speed up efforts in Russia to combine a 152mm gun onto the T-14. The Panther advantages from higher safety than the most recent Leopard II variants with out compromising its weight, and integrates a Prime Assault Safety System (TAPS), the ROSY smoke/obscurant system, and digital NGVA structure facilitating employment of sensors to detect launch signatures and thus higher reply to threats. It additional integrates the Rheinmetall StrikeShield lively safety system. The tank has higher mobility than current Western designs, and can profit from use of the HERO 120 loitering munition permitting it to fireside on targets past its line of sight.
The Panther’s gun has been marketed as being “greater than 50 % more practical” than the Leopard 2’s and providing “for much longer vary,” whereas with the ability to fireplace each kinetic power saboted projectiles and a spread of programmable explosive ammunition sorts. This once more mirrors the T-14, which even with its 125mm gun boasted a 2000m engagement vary triple that of any Western tank. Alongside a 12.7mm coaxial machine gun, an elective distant managed weapons station will permit it to deploy littering ammunition, drones, missiles and probably even defensive anti plane weapons relying on how the tank is configured. It stays unsure how the Panther’s unveiling might have an effect on work on the joint Most important Floor Fight System program being pursued collectively by France and Germany, however this can probably rely on whether or not and in what numbers the Germany Army intends to combine the Panther and the way quickly it’s prepared for service. The tank could be thought of a stopgap till the newer design is prepared for service, which can take till the 2040s.
The Panther is the primary new Western tank to be developed for the reason that Chilly Warfare, aside from the British Challenger 2 which entered service in 1993 over 30 years earlier than the brand new German design will probably be fight prepared. With each Russia and Western powers having invested comparatively little in clear sheet tank designs after the Chilly Warfare, with the T-14 being the notable exception albeit one which has but to be fielded in vital numbers. There’s a excessive probably that the Panther’s unveiling might gas accelerated improvement of latest tanks in america, Russia, and probably in East Asia and in European international locations similar to Britain and France which haven’t produced tanks for some years. Certainly, with the Leopard 2 and American M1 Abrams having initially been pursued as a part of a joint program and sharing many design features, the likelihood that the hull of the Abrams might see an identical modification within the close to future in coordination with the German program and to make sure appropriate ammunition, stays vital. Just like the T-14, the Panther threatens to disrupt the established order within the West and Russia the place conservative investments on each side have meant no occasion is prepared to take a position closely in a brand new twenty first century design with the intention to scale back expenditures. The extent to which the Panther might gas a brand new tank arms race stays to be seen.
