However, as with most multi-national MBT development initiatives, the partnership fell to naught with each party going their separate ways. The partnership intended to keep development and production costs to a minimum while producing a capable, modern solution that was both sound and logistically-friendly. Requirements were refined throughout the 1970s to which, in 1980, the Germans and French entered into a collaborative main battle tank initiative in an effort to replace their respective aged Leopard 1 and AMX-30 stocks. As such, work began on a more modern solution even while the AMX-30 was beginning to manage a foothold in the French Army inventory. To date, the Leclerc is utilized by only the French and the United Arab Emirates while the UAE also shared in some of the project's developmental and manufacture costs.Īs early as the mid-1960s, French authorities reviewed their armored corps (at this time being spearheaded by the AMX-30 B2 Main Battle Tank, a contemporary to the American M60A3 Patton, the German Leopard 1 and the British Chieftain) and found their forces lacking against the might of the upcoming Soviet types. At the time of its inception, the Leclerc was the first combat tank in production on French soil over some 30 years marking it as a national symbol of pride to a certain extent. The Leclerc has been operationally deployed in peacekeeping endeavors in both Kosovo (both French and UAE Leclercs featured) and Lebanon. Despite its modern qualities and promising specifications, the AMX-56 Leclerc - as a combat tank at least - remains largely unproven on the modern battlefield while its comparable Western sisters - the German Leopard 2, American M1 Abrams and British Challenger 2 - have all given a good account of themselves throughout various actions. It represents the current main battle tank of the French Army and provides a powerful - albeit complicated and ultimately expensive - solution for French armored corps needs. The AMX-56 "Leclerc" has become the pinnacle of French combat tank design in the modern world.
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