Leopard 2A5

Leopard 2A5

Leopard 2A4

Leopard 2A6

Leopard 2A5

Leopard 2A4

Leopard 2A6

Germany

VIII Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
12.0	12.0	12.0

Class:

Medium tank

Research:400 000

Purchase:1 080 000

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This page is about the medium tank Leopard 2A5. For other uses, see Leopard (Family).

Description

The Leopard 2A5 is a Rank VIII German medium tank with a battle rating of 12.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.87 "Locked On".

General info

Survivability and armour

The Leopard 2A5 has improved armour compared to its predecessor, the hull is much better protected and the already impenetrable turret cheeks have more protection on the side of the turret. Add-on armour boosts the ability to protect against HEAT-FS and early ADFSDS rounds. The gunners optic is also moved into the roof to eliminate the weak spot which was easily penetrated by any tank.

Be aware of Russian tanks though! Most of them will carry their HE rounds that can easily destroy you anywhere they hit. A hit directly to the turret will most likely send fragments into your hull, penetrate and lets your fuel tank explode or at least set a fire and knock out the gun barrel.

Mobility

The only drawback compared to the previous model would be the Leopard 2A5's mobility since despite the 4 tons increase in weight, the engine remains the same, so the Leopard 2A5 is both slower and less manoeuvrable compared to the Leopard 2A4, but it can still keep up with the other nations MBTs

Keep in mind that the neutral steering is quite underperforming (way slower than on the Leopard 2A4).

Armaments

Main armament

The Leopard 2A5 has access to the DM33 APFSDS shells which make it a deadlier foe as few tanks can stand against it with the exception of the Challenger 2 and T-80U.

120 mm Rheinmetall L44
Capacity			Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance	Stabilizer
42			-9°/+20°	±180°	Two-plane
Turret rotation speed (°/s)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
Arcade	38.08	52.71	64.00	__.__	75.29
Realistic	23.8	28.0	34.0	37.6	40.0
Reloading rate (seconds)
Stock	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
7.80	__.__	__.__	__.__

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration in mm @ 0° Angle of Attack
		10m	100m	500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
DM23	APFSDS	410	408	401	393	384	376
DM12A1	HEATFS	650	650	650	650	650	650
DM33	APFSDS	481	478	470	461	450	440

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity in m/s	Projectile Mass in kg	Fuse delay in m:	Fuse sensitivity in mm:	Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent):	Normalization At 30° from horizontal:	Ricochet:
								0%	50%	100%
DM23	APFSDS	1,640	4.3	N/A	N/A	N/A	+1.5°	78°	80°	81°
DM12A1	HEATFS	1,140	13.5	0.0	0.1	1,640	+0°	65°	72°	75°
DM33	APFSDS	1,640	4.3	N/A	N/A	N/A	+1.5°	78°	80°	81°

Ammo racks

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	Visual discrepancy
42	XX (+XX)	XX (+XX)	No

Machine guns

7.62 mm MG 3A1
Coaxial mount
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
4,500 (1,000)				1,200	N/A	N/A
Pintle mount (Loader)
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
2,000 (1,000)				1,200	-__°/+__°	-__°/+__°

Usage in battles

The Leopard 2A5 is slower, but it has much better armor and access to the DM33 round. With these new changes, the playstyle changes a bit too:

• Hull down: In the 2A4, the gunners optic was easily penetrated so the hull-down was still vulnerable. However, in the 2A5, this weak spot is eliminated and the armor of the turret is much better, so a hull-down position can now leave the Leopard 2A5 invulnerable.
• Sniping: With the DM33 APFSDS round, the Leopard 2A5 can now make use of the great distance in combat to deal damage while tanking incoming shots.
• Flanking: Due to the worse mobility compared to the 2A4, it is better to stick to more stationary tactics like hull down and sniping. However, with a little bit caution, flanking can still be successful.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Excellent 120 mm gun, DM33 APFSDS is capable of penetrating up to 481 mm maximum at point-blank range
• Impenetrable turret cheeks, the add-on wedge armour makes the turret immune from every shell in the game (average of 850 mm against long rod APFSDS and 1,450 mm against HEAT)
• Extremely good armour on the UFP (430mm against long rod APFSDS), immune to every shell in the game except DM33, M829, L26, OFL 120 G1 and 3BM42
• Great gun handling: 40°/s turret rotation speed (with Ace crew) and -9°/+20° of vertical guidance
• Side turret covered by add-on armour can bounce early APFSDS shells
• Gunner optics are now mounted on top of the turret, removing the annoying weak spot present on the Leopard 2A4

Cons:

• Lower glacis can still be penetrated by most shells
• Huge hull ammo-rack if more than 16 shells are carried
• Hull ammo-rack consequently makes the tank extremely vulnerable to HE shells
• A penetrating shot on the left side of the hull will most likely knock out the driver, gunner and commander, thus destroying the tank
• DM33 is very expensive (900 SL)
• DM12A1 HEAT-FS, though very useful against light vehicles, costs 410 SL
• 8x/12x sight can be tricky to use in close quarters engagements
• The wedges can be shot off with several hits, though the turret cheeks alone provides 650 mm against KE
• Tank's weight is 4 tons increased while the engine is still the same, making the Leopard 2A5 slower compared to the l2A4
• Despite all the added armor, the turret ring and driver's hatch are both easily penetrated, and the enemy will most likely aim at these two spots to disable or destroy the tank.
• Known bug in the transmission of the tank, issues with neutral steering even when spaded
• Easy frag for the currently broken Russian 125mm HE shells, you can only hope for Gaijin to fix that very soon

History

In 1988, German engineers began work on modernizing the Leopard 2 main battle tank. Improvements were made to the tank’s defensive capabilities, primarily the turret armour. Moreover, the 2A5 model was fitted with an electric stabiliser instead of the electro-hydraulic variant that the previous versions used.

The gunner received improved and less vulnerable optics, and the tank commander – a panoramic periscope with thermal imaging. The build of the driver’s hatch was also modified, along with several other minor improvements made to the general design.

Leading to the 2A5 modernization program being officially approved by the military officials of Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands. It is interesting to note that the models exported to the last two countries on the list were actually different from the ones issued to the German army – for instance, the Bundeswehr tanks received no extra frontal hull armour. Production of Leopard 2A5 tanks began in 1995. Overall, 350 earlier-version Leopards were upgraded as a result of the program.

- From Devblog

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

• Leopard 2A4

External links

• [Devblog] Leopard 2A5: This Time We Are Dead Serious