Leclerc

Leclerc


The Leclerc battle tank, succeeded the proven AMX-30, which was in the armament of the French Army, the Leclerc tank incorporates one of the most advanced SRPs in the world. French developers refer to it as the first fourth-generation tank. The design of the Leclerc tank began in some measure with the development of the structural parts of the battlespace. Digital architecture determined the design and ensured the harmonious interaction of the SRP with the navigation system, the communication system and the overall mechanics. The overall layout of the tank is classic. It consists of the driver's compartment in the front, the turret in the middle and the engine compartment in the rear. However, the turret is only a two-seater, as the crew because the charger became redundant and was replaced by an automatic. The driver sits in the front left and the reserve ammunition is located to his right. He uses the steering wheel to drive. In the turret sits the gunner on the right and the commander on the left.


The tank is armed with a CN-120-26 "Lisse" cannon of 120 mm calibre. The cannon has a smooth bore and thermal barrel protection. The cannon was manufactured by GIAT Industries. The German company Rheinmetall Industrie also participated in the development of this cannon and ammunition. The cannon's aiming range is -8° to 20°. The range is 360°. The cannon is stabilised in both aim and range. It can use standard NATO ammunition of 120 mm calibre. The turret is electrically powered by Compagnie de Signaux et Enterprises Electriques.
The Leclerc tank is equipped with AN from Creusot-Loire Industrie, which allowed the tank's crew to be reduced to three. There are 22 rounds of ammunition in the AN. A further 18 rounds are placed on the right in the front of the hull. This AN allows firing at a rate of about 10 to 12 shots per minute, even at high speeds.
Additional armament consists of a 12.7 mm calibre machine gun and a 7.62 mm calibre anti-aircraft machine gun. The anti-aircraft machine gun is operated by the commander from inside the tank. Furthermore, the tank is equipped with nine Galix system smoke grenade launchers. 4 are installed on the left side and 5 on the right. The 80 mm caliber grenade launchers' firing diameter includes 4 Galix ARF FUM VIR smoke grenades, 2 Galix LEUR flash grenades and 3 Galix DREC shrapnel anti-personnel grenades.


The SRP includes 15 additional computer units as a priority. It receives data such as wind speed and wind direction, charge and air temperature, air pressure, data on instantaneous target movement and distance to target, as well as ballistic munitions data. This results in a high probability of hitting the first shot when firing the 120 mm cannon at targets more than 2500 m away.
The high complexity of the systems allows the crew to operate continuously with full concentration for only a relatively short period of time. Generally 6 hours of instrument work is given for optimum, after which the crew must rest or be completely replaced.
The gunner uses the HL-60 telescope with the SAVAN-20 stabilization system from SAGAM as the main sighting telescope. The HL-60 includes three main design groups.
One includes a stabilized sighting telescope observation in two planes. This is followed by stabilization of the weapon and turret by perfect stabilization of the sighting telescope mirror head.
The other includes the HL-60 with target data recording instrument, day sighting channel, thermal imaging camera, laser range finder, television camera and television monitor.
The third design group includes a data transfer interface to link all instruments to the computer system.
An auxiliary sighting telescope in the gunner's compartment for use when the main sighting telescope fails is not planned. If necessary, the commander may take over firing with his HL-70 panoramic sighting telescope.
A large number of angled mirrors in the working areas complement the equipment and allow good visibility to all viewing sides.
The sighting telescope HL-60, includes a mono eyepiece. It has a day channel with 3.3 and 10x magnification, one day video channel with 10x magnification as well as a thermal camera.
It is equipped with a four-stage magnification selection (3x, 6x, 10x and 20x), which allows to detect targets up to 5000 m. To the left of the eyepiece is a 15cm Micro - TV - monitor. It is generally used for night observation, less so for shooting. During the day, the camera displays the image in the integrated daytime video channel. To the right of the sighting telescope there is a control panel to adjust various parameters of the sighting telescope, such as brightness, image contrast, etc.
Directly to the right of this, there is a black control panel, the manipulator console to set the SRP mode of operation and to select the type of ammunition. Below the eyepiece of the HL-60 is a keypad to operate the computer. The keypad slides back onto the mount after use, thus taking up no space for the shooter.
There are several buttons on the grips for operating the SRP. Thus for firing, weapon selection, switching the magnification of the field of view and for the link to the thermal imaging camera.
Automatic target tracking is one of the SRP's special features. To do this, the shooter must hold down a button for at least three seconds on the laser rangefinder. In this time span, the computer calculates from the data the indicative horizontal and perpendicular velocity as well as the distance, the probable course of the target and lets the sighting telescope accompany this course. Naturally, the system cannot autonomously detect changes in heading or target velocity. In this case, the guidance must be taken over by the shooter again manually. Once the weapon accompaniment has been initiated while firing on the move at stationary targets, the target can no longer be sighted in manually. Otherwise, the computer will be given data from which it will interpret that it will be guided firing at a moving target and will start to prepare the weapon adequately. Since there is a target in this case, however, standing there may be inattention of the shooter and a charge not being fired.
The following modes of operation can be utilized to normally use all SRP parameters. The emergency mode is without SRP and in this mode it is not possible to stabilise the weapon. The mode of operation cannot be selected manually, it is automatically linked to the design elements of the SRP and its values are set by the system itself.


A periscope with a stabilised field of view is available to the commander as the main observation instrument. The HL-70 was developed by the French company SFIM and combined with a sighting telescope with both day and night channels.
In front of the commander there are several handling consoles for controlling the SRP. The console to the left of the commander includes a switch to raise the turret position, to operate the SRP, a control panel to adjust various parameters of the sighting telescope (for example: brightness and contrast) of the observed image, of course also the thermal imaging camera of the gunner and the control of the AN gun. Tucked under this console is a keyboard to operate the computer. The console above the commander's right hand includes warning lights, up-to-date radio communication information, and a switch for controlling the main weapon. On the left hand is the "FINDERS" (fast information, navigation, decision and reporting system) control - and reporting device in the export variant. This is an advanced combat guidance system. It can mark on a coloured map the own position of the tank and other own and spotted enemy vehicles. The instrument is used for battle management and planning.


It can exchange information with other vehicles equipped with FINDERS via sighted targets, own combat status value (usable ammunition, fuel, etc.) and this information can be requested by other vehicles. A similar system is used by the US in their M1A2 Abrams tank. With this SRP in conjunction with the AN, the Leclerc tank crew is able to scan up to six targets within 30 seconds and engage them in combat with a probability of first hit as high as P = 0.95.

Přehled verzí


Leclerc (Serie 1) - machines built until 1996
Leclerc (Serie 2) - machines delivered to the French Army between 1997 and 2003; compared to the previous version, they are equipped with a new air conditioning system allowing the tank to operate in high temperature areas, upgraded fire control system software and additional armour on the sides of the hull
Leclerc Tropik - "tropicalised" version for the United Arab Emirates


Leclerc DNG - recovery tank
Leclerc EPG - engineer tank
Leclerc PTG - bridge tank




Users: France, UAE (463 machines delivered between 1994 and 2004, of the 463 vehicles, 2 were in the driver training version and 46 in the recovery version)

Útroby:

Nějaké obrázky tohoto stroje z muzea v Saumuru. V době mé návštěvy v červnu 2007 byly vystaveny dva stroje tohoto typu. Tento je z venkovní expozice vpravo od vchodu do muzea (na nádvoří)

Exemplář z muzea v Saumuru.



(©Radek Havelka)



(©Radek Havelka)



(©Radek Havelka)