The Emperor Has No Clothes
19 April 2001
Leopard 1 fleet vulnerable, says Australian Army
Ian Bostock JDW Correspondent. Sydney
The Australian Army is concerned that the backbone of its combat firepower and manoeuvre capability, its Leopard AS1 main battle tank (MBT), is being eroded to the point where operational effectiveness can no longer be sustained.
Senior army officials told Jane's Defence Weekly that the structural integrity, protection levels and maintainability of the 90-strong Leopard AS1 MBT fleet is under question following a series of incidents where the vehicles have not performed as intended.
The most recent took place late last year when it was discovered during firing trials that the front glacis plate could be penetrated by 25mm armour-piercing fin-stabilised discarding sabot projectiles.
The frontal arc of the Leopard AS1 is supposed to provide protection against earlier generations of 30mm armour-piercing rounds.
Army sources have confirmed that the reduced ballistic integrity of the Leopard AS1 is due to the advancing age of its armour plate. Australian Leopards, a customised Krauss-Maffei Leopard 1A3, were delivered between 1976 and 1980. Other problems include hull cracking at suspension stations, which requires continual rewelding and continuing maintenance
The Defence Materiel Organisation and the Australian Defence Force Headquarters hope to retain the Leopard AS1 in service until around 2020.
Concerns exist, however, over the ability of the vehicles to be maintained beyond 2010, when the supply of spare parts, mostly from Germany, is expected to dry up
Sources have also confirmed that most Leopard AS1 spares are rebuilt components of diminishing quality, adding to the logistics burden.
Criticism has also been made of the army's Leopard AS1 simulation gunnery training capability, with an informed source describing it as "archaic".
Since moving from Puckapunyal in southern Australia to the tropical climate of Robertson Barracks in Darwin, Northern Territory, crews from the 1st Armoured Regiment, the only unit to operate the Leopard AS1, have endured operations where internal temperatures routinely reach 60 C.
To rectify this, Tenix Defence Systems, together with South African subcontractor Booyco Engineering, was awarded a A$3 million (US$1.52 million) contract in 1997 to design and install an air-conditioning system. The army, however, rejected the prototype system.
Provision of an effective air-conditioning system and acquisition of a thermal surveillance and gunnery sight are at the planning stages and will be pursued separately.
Numerous capability and platform deficiencies currently plague Australia's Leopard AS1 MBTs, including reduced ballistic protection because of ageing steel armour plate
(Source: Electronic Media Unit)
