Although the main armament presented was the same as that of the LECLERC MBT, KNDS’ eventual offer for the MGCS programme is expected to feature the larger ASCALON 140 mm gun developed by Nexter, and indeed during Eurosatory 2022, KNDS stated that the EMBT’s turret was ready for integration with ASCALON. The EMBT featured a heavily modified LEOPARD 2 hull fitted with a new two-person turret armed with a Nexter F1 CN120-26 120 mm L/52 smoothbore gun fed by a bustle-mounted autoloader with 22 ready rounds of ammunition, and compatible with Nexter’s forthcoming SHARD Armour-Piercing Fin-Stabilised Discarding Sabot (APFSDS) round. The second was the PANTHER KF51 MBT, developed by Rheinmetall. The first was the ENHANCED MBT (EMBT) demonstrator developed by KNDS, which consists of KMW and Nexter. However, EuroSatory 2022 offered a glimpse into the potential future European MBT design, with two noteworthy examples exhibited. In this vein, both Sweden and Switzerland opted for the German Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) LEOPARD 2, albeit modified variants to meet their own requirements.
In the past a number of European countries had the capability to design and manufacture an MBT, for example Sweden with the Stridsvagn 103 (commonly known as the S-tank), and Switzerland with the Panzer 61 and Panzer 68 designs, however over time this has declined, with European users consolidating procurement around just a few designs. The most significant new-design MBT programme in Europe is the Franco-German MAIN GROUND COMBAT SYSTEM (MGCS) programme, due to enter service in approximately 2035 and expected to replace the currently deployed Krauss-Maffei Wegmann LEOPARD 2 and Nexter LECLERC MBT families. Whilst there have been a few new clean-sheet designs appearing, the trend in many countries is to upgrade their existing AFV platforms rather than develop or purchase new ones. Main Battle Tanks (MBTs) have been around for just over 100 years and during that period they have been continuously evolving with improved firepower, survivability, and mobility.
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