Leopard MBT question

[ExRAF]

With regard to a tank designed by a nation that drives on the right side of the road, and mainly buit for a market where the nations who operate the vehicle also drive on the right, does anyone know why the Leopard 1 & 2 MBT's are right hand drive rather than centre or left? Just curious.

[pigsty]

Well first, of course, tanks aren't road vehicles. No tank should spend any more than a few minutes travelling on-road and should rely on transporters or rail wagons for getting about. So mainly, it really doesn't matter.

The reason the driver sits on the right, though, is that some of the ammunition sits on the left. This in turn is because the loader sits to the left of the gun in the turret and needs handy access to the hull-stowed rounds. You might think that if the gun had been designed the other way round, the driver could have sat on the left - but then, see above.

[Dndieje]

Hmmm .... I should know this.

I played with the real thing long enough

Might have something to do with weight distribution.

This might sound strange for a machine with a bridge classification of 60 tonnes but on a soggy German moor it is not to be taken lightly.

The driver cannot sit in the middle because the main gun-barrel is usually automatically stabilized which means it always tries to stay in the level position.

On a bumpy surface this could be quite painful for the poor driver, provided he drives with the hatch opened, who's head would then be right under the tube.

On the right-hand side (looking in the direction of travel) is the driver, the gunner and the commander with associated equipment.

On the back of the turret, again on the right hand side, is the hydraulic motor and reservoir.

On the left hand side is the is the forward ammo bunker, the loader, the turret motor and the rear ammo bunker at the back of the turret.

Fully loaded that kind of equals it out I guess.

Pigsty is absolutely correct that, in wartime, spending too much time on the road is not a good idea.

During maneuvers or transit it is perfectly fine to use normal roads.

Road tracks (with rubber blocks) prevent damage to the road surface.

The wide tracks of the Leo 2 spread the weight so well that on a loose sandy surface you could put your foot under the tracks without doing damage (so the good people of Krauss-Maffei told us, we never tried).

I'll see if I can dig up the "user manual", it is military confidential so I can't quote it in full (hope you understand ).

[pigsty]

Pigsty is absolutely correct that, in wartime, spending too much time on the road is not a good idea.

During maneuvers or transit it is perfectly fine to use normal roads.

Road tracks (with rubber blocks) prevent damage to the road surface.

The wide tracks of the Leo 2 spread the weight so well that on a loose sandy surface you could put your foot under the tracks without doing damage (so the good people of Krauss-Maffei told us, we never tried).

All true, but the fuel consumption is fearsome, so it's still best left to the heavy lorries.

[IoanRam]

As tankmen say, the best tank is the one that shoots first. During a conflict, even a split of a second would count.

Machineries have always been designed for right-handed people.

In a limited given space such as a Leo tank turret, a trained person would load the master gun faster if he manipulates its body and hands from the right to the left.

For the above reasons, engineers design master guns to be loaded and armed by right to left movements . The loader has to be then on the left side of the gun and the master gunner goes nowwhere else but to the right. Both Commander and master gunner are able to rotate the turret, to target and to shoot to enemy, by sharing some equipment and machineries. Since aviation's flight-by wire technology and double equipment is not applied, gunner and commander have to be on the same - right -side of the turret.

Let's see the arrangement of a non-operational LEO 1A4.

Ammo storage (near number 11) forbids any potential internal access to driver's seat from the left side of the turret. In addition to that, there is not enough space to store all the ammunition on the turret, so an additional bunker is needed, preferably near by the loader - on the front and left side of the tank again. Not to mention the electrical batteries department, that has to be accessible too and there is no way to reach it from right side

So the poor driver has to go to the right side and batteries to the left

Edited September 14, 2010 by IoanRam

[Dndieje]

Well there you go, "sometimes a pipe is just a pipe"

Maybe as a left-hander I always missed that logic.