Swedish LeClerc

Grey Havoc

Grey Havoc

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Meant to post on this last week. According to the ever reliable Micael over at HP&CA, Sweden is looking very favourably at having a version of the Leclerc as their next MBT. No word on whether it would incorporate any elements from the (badly lagging thanks to President Macron) SCORPION program. The Swedes are in a hurry to build their tank forces back up, so it's likely deliveries would be directly from a reactivated French production line, rather than licenced production. They were also interested in upgunning to 140mm, but it is unclear whether this will be in place from the outset.
 
Seems odd, given their current inventory of Strv 122/Leopard 2. There appear to be plenty of extra Leo 2 chassis around and ample room for improvement to the latest standards. Why adopt a new design instead?
 
TomS said:
Seems odd, given their current inventory of Strv 122/Leopard 2. There appear to be plenty of extra Leo 2 chassis around and ample room for improvement to the latest standards. Why adopt a new design instead?
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I agree. Also given the Strv 122s are currently being given an upgrade with it due to be complete 2018-2023, it seems odd to be talking about replacing them.
 
Preferring a 140mm gun also strikes me as odd. That was the upgrade path in the 1990s but it would be unsupported today. The Franco-German preference seems to be for 130mm.

I wonder if there might be some interest in an operational version of the Leo 2/LeClerc hybrid that they showed off last year?
 
If I remember correctly, the production line for Leclercs was shut down over a decade ago, and switched to building VBCIs and the like. With the MGCS spooling up in the next 5-10 years I doubt Nexter would see that as a valuable investment. Could definitely see Sweden picking up the K-2 if the need for MBTs is so dire, though.
 

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