The Leopard family is Germany's answer to the main battle tank. The Leopard 1 (1965) traded armor for speed and became the standard tank of much of NATO. The Leopard 2 (1979) added composite armor, a 120 mm smoothbore gun and a 1,500 hp engine, and through steady upgrades it remains one of the most capable tanks in the world.
After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Leopard went to war: Ukraine received Leopard 2A4, Strv 122 and 2A6 tanks and more than 100 refurbished Leopard 1A5s. At the same time, European armies placed the largest tank orders in decades, mostly for the Leopard 2A8. Germany is now developing a Leopard 3 for the 2030s.