Leopard 1

Over 4,700 built; still in combat in the 2020s.

Compare

Specifications

Crew: 4
Combat weight: 42.5 t
Engine: 830 hp
hp / tonne: 19.5
Road speed: 65 km/h
Range: 600 km
Main gun: 105 mm L7A3
In service: 1965–2003 (Germany; still elsewhere)

MTU MB 838, 830 hp

Armor: Light welded steel — designed when ATGMs seemed to make heavy armor futile

Secondary: 2× 7.62 mm MG3

Briefing scores

Relative 1–10 for teaching, not a wargame rating.

Firepower: 7/10
Protection: 4/10
Mobility: 8/10
Awareness: 7/10
Logistics: 8/10

Ammunition natures

APDSAPFSDSHEATHESH

History

Winner of a 1960s NATO design wave. Exported across Europe and Canada. Ukraine received A5s in 2023 — a 1960s hull still useful with modern ammunition and thermals.

Doctrine

Bundeswehr tanks would move, shoot, and move again on the North German Plain. Fire control and a superb gun mattered more than thickness. Later A5 upgrades added EMES-18 sights that kept it honest into the 1990s.

Strengths

Mobility and reliability
L7 gun
Easy to upgrade optics

Limits

Thin armor vs 125 mm
No special armor

Related hulls

AMX-30

France

Leopard 2A7

Germany

Centurion

United Kingdom

13 of 25 in the atlas