The AUSSIE Leopard AS1

Summary

The script provides an in-depth overview of the Australian Army's Leopard AS1 tank, drawing on the author's 12 years of experience with the vehicle. It details the Leopard's capabilities including mobility, armor protection, weaponry, and special features to handle extreme terrain. The author also recounts key battles where the tank was used and traditions around naming the vehicles. The script conveys the author's enthusiasm for the Leopard as his favorite Cold War-era tank, inviting viewers to ride in one at an upcoming event.

Takeaways

• 😃 The leopard AS1 is a highly mobile medium battle tank used by the Australian army from 1976 to 2006
• 🚗 With its 830 hp engine, the leopard can reach speeds up to 62 km/h across rough terrain
• 🔫 The British L7 105mm rifled gun fires a variety of ammo, effective up to 8 km range
• 🛡 The welded steel turret provides around 248mm protection at its thickest point
• 👨‍✈️ The tank commander, gunner and loader each have specialized roles and optics
• 💦 The leopard can ford waters up to 4 meters deep using 14 water tight hatches
• ⚙️ Sensors provide inputs to the ballistic computer, correcting for conditions
• 🎖 Australian leopards saw combat action in Vietnam at Binh Ba and Hat Dich
• 🏆 The video creator considers the Leopard AS1 the best Cold War era tank
• 🎫 The video is an invite to Oz Arma Fest 2024 to ride in a Leopard tank

Q & A

When did Australia first receive the Leopard AS1 tanks, and for how long were they in service?

Australia received the Leopard AS1 tanks in 1976, and they were in service for about 30 years.

What modifications were made to the Leopard AS1 to adapt it for operating in hotter temperatures?

To adapt the Leopard AS1 for hotter temperatures, modifications included switching from spring bump stops to hydraulic and installing tropical radiators for better water flow.

Why is the Leopard AS1 classified as a medium battle tank?

The Leopard AS1 is classified as a medium battle tank because its armor is thinner, focusing more on mobility and firepower rather than heavy protection.

What are the capabilities of the MB 838 engine found in the Leopard AS1?

The MB 838 is a 10-cylinder twin mechanical supercharged multifuel engine, producing about 830 horsepower at 2200 RPMs, and it can be removed in about 30 minutes for easy maintenance.

How does the Leopard AS1's design allow it to ford water obstacles?

The Leopard AS1 can ford water up to 4 meters deep by closing about 13 valves around the hull and two clack bang valves in the turret, while drawing air through a snorkel on the crew commander's position.

What unique safety feature is associated with the commander's hatch in the Leopard AS1?

The Leopard AS1 has a micro switch safety mechanism that prevents closing the commander's hatch during water fording to ensure air intake, automatically shutting off the engine if the hatch is closed.

How does the Leopard AS1's armor protection compare in different parts of the tank?

The Leopard AS1's armor varies, with the turret having an outer plate of 30 mm, a polyurethane-filled gap, and an inner plate of 35 mm, offering up to 248 mm of protection at a 65° angle, and the sides featuring a 12 mm outer plate, a gap, and a 35 mm inner plate, angled for additional protection against heat rounds.

What is the main armament of the Leopard AS1, and what types of ammunition can it fire?

The main armament is the British L7 rifled gun, capable of firing armor-piercing discarding Sabot, practice rounds, high explosive squash head (HESH), heat rounds, and canister rounds for various combat scenarios.

How does the Leopard AS1's fire control system enhance its combat capabilities?

The Leopard AS1's fire control system, made by Sabca, includes a laser range finder and can engage targets up to 4,000 meters, with the capability for indirect fire up to 8 km using HESH rounds, and incorporates various sensors to adjust for internal and external conditions.

What historical significance do the battle honors of Binh Ba and Hat Dich hold for the Leopard AS1 and its operators?

Binh Ba and Hat Dich are significant battle honors for Leopard AS1 operators, as they represent key engagements during the Vietnam War where the tanks and their crews demonstrated operational effectiveness and contributed to Australian military efforts.

Outlines

00:00

😎 Overview of the Australian Leopard Tank

Paragraph 1 provides background on the Leopard 1 tank used by the Australian army, including when it entered service, upgrades made over time, mobility, armor protection, engine, suspension, braking capabilities, and its role as a medium battle tank optimized for speed and firepower over armor.

05:01

🏹 Main Gun and Ammunition Capabilities

Paragraph 2 details the specifications of the British L7 105mm rifled main gun on the Leopard 1, including the different types of ammunition it can fire, their muzzle velocities and ranges, as well as some challenges encountered with certain ammunition types.

10:01

👨‍💻 Crew Roles and Responsibilities

Paragraph 3 describes the roles and responsibilities of the commander, gunner, and loader crew positions in the Leopard 1, the equipment at their stations, procedures during firing, and various safety mechanisms.

Keywords

💡leopard

The leopard is the main battle tank featured in the video. Specifically, the video discusses the Australian Leopard AS1 tank, which entered service in 1976. The leopard was known for its mobility and firepower rather than armor protection. It had a 10-cylinder diesel engine providing high speed and range. Multiple examples are provided describing the leopard's capabilities.

💡mobility

Mobility refers to the tank's ability to move quickly in different terrains. The video emphasizes the leopard's excellent cross-country mobility from its torsion bar suspension and high-powered engine. This allowed it to rapidly move between defensive positions.

💡firepower

Firepower refers to the tank's offensive capability from its main gun armament. The video discusses the British 105mm L7 rifled gun on the Leopard AS1 which could fire different ammunition types to destroy targets at long ranges. Firepower combined with mobility were key strengths.

💡protection

Protection refers to the tank's armored defenses. The video notes that compared to firepower and mobility, protection was not a key strength of the Leopard AS1 design. It had less armor than contemporaries to maintain speed and mobility.

💡transmission

The transmission refers to the drivetrain components that transfer engine power to the tracks. The Leopard's transmission had 4 forward gears with a top speed of 62 km/hr for rapid battlefield movement.

💡sights

The sights refer to the fire control and vision systems. The commander, gunner and driver had specialized sights with magnification for observation, aiming and engagement of targets. Examples like the TRP 2A panoramic sight are discussed.

💡Vietnam

The Leopard AS1 tanks first saw combat during Australia's deployment to the Vietnam War. The video notes involvement in battles like Binh Ba and Hat Dich, commemorated on the tanks. This provides historical context for their original operational use.

💡sensors

Sensors refer to equipment that measures environmental and vehicle data to feed the ballistic computer for improved gunnery accuracy. Temperature, wind, pressure sensors are explained as providing inputs like round temperature and crosswinds for automatic compensation.

💡maintenance

Several examples of maintenance tasks are noted, like the removable engine pack, extra roadwheel shocks, and quick replacement of external track pads. This illustrates how the vehicle was designed for field maintainability.

💡ergonomics

Ergonomics refers to crew working environment, comfort and interfaces inside the tank. The video tours internal crew positions, discussing space, controls and equipment surrounding each crew role. This impacts prolonged operational performance.

Highlights

The video is abnormal, and we are working hard to fix it.
Please replace the link and try again.

Transcripts

So today we're looking at and a bit of

an Australian theme is the leopard as1

or commonly known as the leopard 13 so

Australia got these in about 1976 had

them in service for about 30 years I did

about 12 years on this vehicle so it's

pretty much one of my favorites we did a

few changes along the way we went from

Spring bump stops to hydraulic tropical

radiators obviously operating in hotter

temperatures we need better water flow

we had more mobility and Firepower

rather than protection so it's really

only classed as a medium battle tank cuz

the armor is a little bit thinner but it

was fast and had a good gun for its time

Mobility on the leopard is excellent

It's a four-speed transmission each gear

is uh governed uh first gear goes to 13

km second gear 24 third gear 36 and in

fourth we can get up to our 62 km hour

so this is the MB 838 10 cylinder twin

mechanical supercharged engine it is a

multifuel engine puts out about 830

horsepower at 2200 RPMs this engine pack

can be taken out in about 30 minutes so

it's a very easy engine to take in and

out um and very reliable at full speed

it will cross a 3M trench it can climb

about a meter step we can forward with

this vehicle so we can actually go up to

4 m in depth underwater in order to do

that on the engine bay and around the

side of the hole we have about 13 valves

that close and two valves known as clack

bang valves which are on the inside of

the turret into the firewall and we put

a tower on the crew Commanders position

and from there that's where all the air

is drawn in to run our engine the

Commander's Hatcher is a very unique

safety mechanism if we're going through

water there's a micro switch it prevents

us from closing the Commander's hatch

cuz we need to have air coming through

so it actually switches off the engine

running gear fully tracked torsch bar

suspension with this it allows us to go

cross country a lot quicker we have

shock absorbers on the first three road

wheels with bump stops and a couple of

shock absorbers at the back as we come

up the driver sits in this position here

it's an automatic so he has an

accelerator and the brake now the brake

pedal is big enough to put both uh feet

on at one time now at full speed if you

apply the brake uh hard this will stop

in its own vehicle length so the brakes

are very big on on this vehicle and they

can stop you quite quickly the A3 went

into the welded turret prior to that we

had a cast turret which we have on our

185 the outer plate is about 30 mm and

we have a 40 mm Gap said to be filled

with polyurethane and on the inside we

have a 35 mm plate now this equates at a

65° angle to about 248 mm of protection

so not too bad in that respect we go to

the side uh we've got a 12 mm outer

plate a 58 mm Gap in between and then a

35 mm plate on the inside this is angled

back at about 24° so this gives us

around about 11 14.9 mm of protection so

this is more to go against the Heat

round earlier turrets weren't really

protected that well but as we've seen

especially with Canadian leopards

they're mexus they have that extra armor

plating all around their cast turrets on

the mantlet we generally have a mixture

of about 30 mm and changing around to

about 20 mm but when we go back behind

the mantlet there is Extra Protection

there some areas have got 60 mm some are

got 50 mm of protection the front

glasses plate 70 M thick angled back at

about 60° so this gives us a line of

sight of about 140 mil so as I said not

a very well armored tank but it was fast

so in that respect you want to use it

for a more defensive role so you can sit

in the position use the gun to its good

effect at longer ranges and then when

the to move very quickly from one

defensive position to another so in that

respect it was a a very wellth thought

out tank these R are Growers essentially

used for snow and ice we can take these

pads out even if they get worn out we

can take them out so essentially we'd

have a pin that would come through here

and it pushes on a plate we' get a bar

in here and we just lever the pad out so

about 1

in8 alternating uh left and right we'd

put a grower in and this gives us extra

traction if we're going through snow and

ice this is the British L7 so this come

about around about 1959 to combat that t

54 t55 era of Tanks so it's a rifled gun

28 lands and grooves 56 calibers long I

believe it's got a Twist so it said to

have one twist in 20 calibers just from

memory I think it had about four twists

along the way we can fire a number of

different types of ammunition obviously

our main one armor piercing discarding

Sabo comes out at about 1478 m/s uh we

also have a DST so it's our essentially

our practice round about 15 39 M A

second we can fire hash round high

explosive squash head comes out at about

732 with hash we can use this gun if

we're firing direct we can go up to

4,000 M if we're firing indirect so

essentially we can still see the target

but it's above the ballistic input of

4,000 M we can shoot out to about 8 km

with a hash round early on could fire a

heat round the only problem with the

heat round is because it imparted spin

with the rifling when it would hit the

target it would try and spin off the

Russians actually fixed that with their

heat round on the t72 where they put a

rotating ring on it we also had a purse

comes about 826 m/ second this fires

about

4,400 flash ETS and that stuff will go

through body armor mid 90s we started

introducing canister so this is

essentially a big shotgun shell the only

problem with canister it's very short

range we generally fire it off the Hesh

scale uh but it was good up to about 300

M good for clearing infantry and Barb

Wire the only problem with that is could

place additional wear on your rifling up

here so this is the multibarrel smoke

grenade discharger system so there's

four on either side they're all on

different angles slightly so what we'

generally do is we'd uh if we wanted to

fire the right Bank uh which the

commander does electronically from his

position we Traverse off the left 11:00

fire that bank fire the left side

Travers off the right at 1:00 and fire

that bank fires a dm15 smoke grenade

goes out about 60 m in front of the

vehicle later on WE swapped the dm15 for

a dm45 up the top here we have the tank

Fire Control System made by sabka this

is a laser range finder within that site

so it'll take any input up to 4,000 M we

could L out to

9,995 M but then if you want to shoot

over that that's where the crew

Commander earns his dollars goes to his

uh range tables so for whatever reason

we can't use our main site we'll go to

the secondary site can wind on the range

for this so we can fire all Natures of

ammunition from that secondary site we

have our search light so this is a white

light infrared search light when you go

on the white light said there be about

30 million canala power so we can shoot

out to about 1500 M using that white

light search light the only problem is

if you're using white light people can

see you so we do have that infrared

system Commander can look through his

infrared site and see the infrared beam

and still be able to shoot generally out

to about that 1,500 M Mark I'm in the

commanders of position so this is where

I spent a couple of years as what we

call a Bravo crew Commander so in my

position here I've got the uh Commander

control so I can actually override the

Gunner or I can point the turret in a

position where I want him to look or

identify a

Target my main site that I have here is

the trp 2A so it's a panoramic site so I

can look 360° all the way around on the

right hand side I've got a dent switch

so I can unlock it and I can use my

Travis hand wheel to Travers the site

all the way around I've got got a Time 4

to * 20 magnification on this site now

this also has a stadiametric range

finder so the two knobs that we have

here U measurements in uh meters so

essentially if I know the width and

height of a vehicle I can put that into

its height and its width and within the

side itself there's a perforated box

once I put that box around the target I

can then read off the range to that

Target and then I can either shoot off

my site or give a uh range uh to the

Gunner to shoot at now it also has what

I would call a very basic hunter killer

role so essentially as I said I can turn

it

360° if I unlock my when I unlock my

detent switch I can Travers around say

to 3:00 if I identify a Target I can

then lock my detent switch in and then

once the Gunner traverses right once my

site and the Gunner site are locked in

the site will actually lock in so now

what the Gunner is looking at is what

I'm looking at I am in the loaders

position how much room is in here this

is a massive amount of room considering

I'm only 5'4 so a lot of room for me and

this was a great position once I

finished gunning I went to the loaders

position so the loader will essentially

operate the radios that are right behind

him he loads everything manually we have

our make brake buttton here so

essentially you want to sort of make

sure the circuit's broken because the

gun fires electrically it could reach

through open up the breach load the ramp

and then the breach would close behind

along this side here we have what's

known as our 13 round ready rack apds

along the side here and then down the

the side is a 39 Round ready rack we

also hold four underneath the gun apds

three apds standing up so we have a

total of 59 main armor rounds on this

side here have our th000 round for 7.62

so this feeds into the mg3 machine gun

which is COA mounted when we're firing

we have a system if we're firing the gun

we can uh take out all those fumes from

inside the turret and when we're firing

the machine gun we just simply change

the handle around which is located on

the right hand side of the machine gun

mount and again we can scavenge all

those uh fumes out the lootus control

box the master switch provides power to

the turret so that's got to be on uh and

he also makes sure his Hydraulics are on

he can actually switch the hydraulic

switches off if he needs to do something

within the Travis area just so that the

Gunner doesn't accidentally Traverse on

him so a couple of good safety features

well with inside the turret pistol Port

we can load rounds in and out and from

you can see how thick the turret armor

is along the back here part from the

radios carry spare barrels for the mg3

so there's three per gun we had one

inside one out carried grenades total of

603 either side this handle here as I

said the tank can for we generally pump

up the foring Hydraulics so this has

also a turret ring seal we go up to

about two two bar of pressure and uh we

can go into water and keep essentially

all the water out where you're sitting

where your feet are is a ballistic

computer so in order to bring in a lot

of information into that ballistic

computer that compensates the site we

have a number of sensors within the tank

uh that measure a number of different

variables inside we have a temperature

grain which will measure the temperature

of the rounds themselves and how long

they've been uh stored within the tank

temperature pressure so we're also

measuring pressure both inside and

temperature ambient outside the

difference between firing around in

either extreme cold or extreme heat can

make the rounds do different things for

the internal ballistics when it's firing

we also measure our EFC our equivalent

full charge the barrel has a lifespan of

about 215 efc's so an apds round is one

EFC uh if we're firing Hesh it's uh you

know about

02 I think of an EFC so it doesn't place

a lot lot of wear on the barrel cuz it

flies a lot slower so all our sensors

essentially our um non-standard sensors

are up here and that'll give you a good

indication of what's available we also

have a crosswind sensor which is on top

of the roof it's uh looks like a little

bird cage stuff so it's got a heated

filament and when the wind comes from

either you know left to right or right

to left that filament will cool down on

one side uh so it measures the wind

blowing across the front of our vehicle

but not at Target end so that was the

only drawback of that we could have no

wind at at our end but we could have

high wind at the other so you just you

could turn it off especially in high

wind because you could actually see your

sight move so when first arm regiment

went to Vietnam be Squad in particular

they got involved in uh a couple of

battles known as binar and hat dick both

of these are Villages within the

Australian's area of operations so

hattick was one of the battle Honors

that we have on our standard along with

bin bar when we name our tanks if we had

an a squad tank it' start with an a we

had a b Squad tank B so this is a

headquarters tank so this generally

belongs to the commanding officer so we

start with a h other cosos depending on

the era also had a tank called Hilda

best Cold War era tank by far no

everybody has their own favorite tanks

but being on this it's a personal

favorite so if you want to have a ride

on our leopard 105 make yourself

available for Oz Arma Fest 2024 last

weekend in

August