| The european standard tank began life as a collaborative idea between the Germans, French and Italians in 1955 when they decided to jointly develop a new tank that fitted
their collective requirements better than any of the available foreign designs. The joint tank project was dubbed the Europanzer and the design was to be based on two main
criteria - mobility and firepower. It was officially inaugerated in June 1957 and in July 1957 Germany and France gave the official requirements to their companies involved
in the project. In September 1958 Italy officially joined the project.
In 1959 contracts were signed for the production of 2 group A and B german prototypes plus one french prototype. In March 1961 the first french prototype was tested at Satory.
At the same time the german prototypes were tested by Germany, France and Italy in Meppen. In 1963 the French prototype came to Germany for testing. By the second half of
1963 the standardpanzer and the amx-30 prototypes had tested together but then both countries decided to produce their own tanks and the StandardPanzer was renamed the
Leopard in October,1963.
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VARIANTS OF THE SERIES
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GENERAL RECOGNITION POINTS
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- Five medium roadwheels with four top rollers.
- Exposed exhausts on the rear hull corners.
- Long engine air intakes on the hull sides.
- Cast turret with prominent rounded rear bustle.
- Single tube main armament.
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WEBSITES
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DOCUMENTS
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FORUMS |
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