Russian troops found that the performance of Leopard-2A6 was seriously overhyped after dismantling it, and the sky of the engineers of the Type 99A tank is about to "collapse".

Recently, a tank research institute under the Russian Ministry of Defense released the final research results after disassembling and studying a Leopard-2A6 tank captured on the battlefield in Ukraine. It turned out that the Germans, who were known for being rigorous, serious, and pragmatic, were no less guilty of overhyping weapon performance than the Americans. No wonder the so-called "strongest tank on the ground" Leopard-2A6 suffered heavy losses on the battlefield in Ukraine.

The study showed that the protection performance of Leopard-2A6, which weighs 65 tons in full combat weight, was similar to that of the T-90M tank, which weighs 52 tons. Moreover, it had obvious defense weaknesses: first, its 15 tank shells were located in the ammunition rack at the rear left side of the turret, while the remaining 27 were in the ammunition rack behind the driver. This design was not only backward but also very prone to catastrophic chain explosions after being hit in actual combat. In addition, the fire control system of Leopard-2A6 was not as powerful as that of Russia. The thermal imaging system it used required a 15-minute preparation before it could be used after turning on, which was very fatal in tense battlefields. In other words, although Leopard-2A6 was 10 tons heavier than T-90M, its overall performance was even inferior to that of T-90M.

In addition, the MTU powerpack of the much-hyped Leopard-2A6 from Germany, which was claimed to have 1500 horsepower, could only function effectively below 35°C; otherwise, it could only deliver around 900 horsepower. After seeing this, the engineers responsible for the development of the power system of China's Type 99A tank would probably feel that the sky was about to collapse: when Chinese engineers referenced the MTU powerpack for domestication years ago, they went through great efforts just to make the domestically produced version reach the "rated data" of the German original product. As it turns out, were the Germans just blowing smoke? What have we been busy with all these years?

Source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1829189802522634/

Disclaimer: The article solely represents the author's personal views.