The armor safety on a major battle tank’s hull is a important part of its survivability. Nonetheless, within the context of the Leopard household of tanks, particularly earlier fashions, selections to not considerably improve the hull armor past preliminary designs stemmed from a mixture of things involving weight limitations, technological constraints on the time of improvement, and evolving battlefield priorities.
Rising armor thickness straight impacts the automobile’s weight, probably lowering its mobility and rising stress on the suspension and engine. Early Leopard designs prioritized a steadiness between firepower, mobility, and safety. Whereas firepower and mobility could possibly be extra readily upgraded via improved weapons and engines, considerably rising armor required a elementary redesign of the tank’s construction. Moreover, as shaped-charge warheads (HEAT) and kinetic power penetrators (APFSDS) turned extra prevalent threats, merely including extra metal armor supplied diminishing returns. These threats demanded various kinds of safety, similar to composite armor, which was a extra advanced and heavier resolution to combine into current designs.
