A real monster: a 140-mm gun for the Leopard 2 amazing for its size

For tanks Leopard 2 in Switzerland in the late 80's created a powerful 140-mm gun. It still surprises with its characteristics and size.

Many data about it have not yet been made public, but even from the published photographic materials, it can be understood that the length of this weapon significantly exceeds those already in service.

It was reported that during the tests it was possible to break through an armored plate with a thickness of one meter. It was emphasized that this result was achieved using a projectile that did not use a depleted uranium core.

Since the ammunition dimensions were larger than the regular ones, they were made separate for ease of handling.

The gun was installed in a real Leopard 2 tank and successfully passed the test, but the designers did not take into account the political situation of the early 90's, when, due to the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and the collapse of the Soviet Union, potential buyers no longer wanted to spend money on re-equipment of armored vehicles. Therefore, there were no orders. The Swiss army was not interested in the project either.

A peculiar echo of this in many ways interesting development is a test stand located in one of the museums, created on the chassis of the main battle tank Panzer 68.

Given that Western designers have not abandoned the idea of creating new weapons, the experience gained may still be useful in the near future.

Alexey Brusilov