Christopher Wang
ACCESS: Confidential
- Joined
- 3 June 2021
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A Swedish modeler named Björn Bäcklund ( https://baecklund.eu/scalemodels/ex72/modern.html ) created this 1:72 scale model of a hybrid Polish main battle tank combining the hull of a T-72 with the turret of a Leopard 2.
Bäcklund created the model back when Poland had recently joined NATO in 1999. As explained by Bäcklund, Poland faced the challenge of conforming to NATO standards while possessing a large Cold War era stock of Soviet military equipment such as the T-72. Bäcklund claimed that one option that was considered was to rebuild the T-72s with old Leopard 2 turrets. He also claimed that he had seen a sketch of the T-72 with the Leopard 2 turret. Ultimately, Poland decided to acquire 128 Leopard 2A4 tanks from German army stocks in 2002 and ordered a further 119 ex-German Leopard 2s in 2013.
The closest real-life equivalent could be India’s MBT-EX / Tank Ex / Karna prototype main battle tank designed by Defence Research and Development Organisation or DRDO.
The MBT-EX / Tank Ex / Karna MBT combined the hull of the imported T-72 with the turret and 120-mm rifled tank gun of the domestic Arjun MBT. It underwent six months of trials, but was subsequently rejected by the Indian Army. A total of eight prototypes were built.
Interestingly, the Arjun MBT shares a similar layout to the Leopard 2.
This begs the question: Has there ever been any real-life proposals to combine the T-72 hull with the Leopard 2 turret?
It would help to know the turret ring dimensions of both the T-72 and Leopard 2. Various online sources such as Tankograd ( https://thesovietarmourblog.blogspot.com/p/home.html ) state that the Leopard 2 has a turret ring diameter of 1980-mm. Meanwhile, the T-72 possesses a turret ring with an external diameter of 2275-mm, a bearing pitch diameter of 2116-mm, and an internal diameter of 1934-mm.
![T-72 Hull with Leopard 2 Turret (1).jpg T-72 Hull with Leopard 2 Turret (1).jpg](https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/data/attachments/216/216236-4babecc4c50bdba957a47be040238218.jpg)
![T-72 Hull with Leopard 2 Turret (2).jpg T-72 Hull with Leopard 2 Turret (2).jpg](https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/data/attachments/216/216237-2779e227dd6f7f57d7d0daeda1a99f40.jpg)
Bäcklund created the model back when Poland had recently joined NATO in 1999. As explained by Bäcklund, Poland faced the challenge of conforming to NATO standards while possessing a large Cold War era stock of Soviet military equipment such as the T-72. Bäcklund claimed that one option that was considered was to rebuild the T-72s with old Leopard 2 turrets. He also claimed that he had seen a sketch of the T-72 with the Leopard 2 turret. Ultimately, Poland decided to acquire 128 Leopard 2A4 tanks from German army stocks in 2002 and ordered a further 119 ex-German Leopard 2s in 2013.
The closest real-life equivalent could be India’s MBT-EX / Tank Ex / Karna prototype main battle tank designed by Defence Research and Development Organisation or DRDO.
![MBT-EX, Tank Ex, or Karna (1).jpg MBT-EX, Tank Ex, or Karna (1).jpg](https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/data/attachments/216/216238-39f2a6241db37d3b6ef81a16e8be5774.jpg)
![MBT-EX, Tank Ex, or Karna (2).jpg MBT-EX, Tank Ex, or Karna (2).jpg](https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/data/attachments/216/216239-7b3bfd7ad2be189b55206b3ef68c4bed.jpg)
The MBT-EX / Tank Ex / Karna MBT combined the hull of the imported T-72 with the turret and 120-mm rifled tank gun of the domestic Arjun MBT. It underwent six months of trials, but was subsequently rejected by the Indian Army. A total of eight prototypes were built.
Interestingly, the Arjun MBT shares a similar layout to the Leopard 2.
![Arjun MBT.jpg Arjun MBT.jpg](https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/data/attachments/216/216240-a094f4a8b71bce31940d85beaaa93507.jpg)
![Leopard 2A4.jpg Leopard 2A4.jpg](https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/data/attachments/216/216241-b5a9706bb21508f97674f5d7d56bd527.jpg)
This begs the question: Has there ever been any real-life proposals to combine the T-72 hull with the Leopard 2 turret?
It would help to know the turret ring dimensions of both the T-72 and Leopard 2. Various online sources such as Tankograd ( https://thesovietarmourblog.blogspot.com/p/home.html ) state that the Leopard 2 has a turret ring diameter of 1980-mm. Meanwhile, the T-72 possesses a turret ring with an external diameter of 2275-mm, a bearing pitch diameter of 2116-mm, and an internal diameter of 1934-mm.
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