Leopard-2A0-A4 armor protection estimation
by Jaroslaw (Militarysta)
Gun mantled mask area
Turret armor left side (the loader)
Turret armor right side (the tank commander and gunner)
Turret sides on crew compartment area
Turret bustle
Turret roof armor
The hull frontal armor
Hull sides
The psychical thickens of the armor summary
The protection of whole tank can be describe in 3 aspects:
- Physical thickness of the armor;
- Integrity of the armor protection and weak zones placement for tank for 0-30 degree from longitude axis;
- Know special armor features and possibility to protect against KE munitions and CE munitions.
It's important to notice that Leopard-2 was developed as child of the many compromises - and some solutions judge now as bad - where developed in 1970's to achieve better fire power (placement EMES-15 main sight in gap in frontal armor to simplicity optics and thermal camera in main sight) or to achieve better susceptibility to service and repairs - for example huge gun mantled mask was developed to achieve possibility to replace whole tank gun on battlefield without removal turret from chassis.
In the breakthrough of the 1980s and 1990s when some solutions in Leopard-2A4 stars to be bad in term of armor protection (against suspected new Soviet anti-tank weapons) program KWS was started and deep modernization to 2A5 level was introduced when most questionable problems whit armor integrity where solved (improvement).