Tank origin

The Leopard 1A5 upgrade featured a significant update, which included a new expanded turret, which gave the Leopard 1A5 the potential to mount the 120 mm smoothbore cannon from the Leopard 2, along with significantly enhanced fire control systems, the introduction of Armor Piercing Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabot (APFSDS) rounds, a laser rangefinder and additional armor panels. The adoption of the Leopard 1A5 standard was made in order to keep the Leopard 1 relevant as the Leopard 2 entered service. The first versions of the Leopard 1A5 conversion were deployed in 1987. Although the conversion to 120 mm never happened, most of the Bundeswehr’s inventory of existing Leopard 1 were eventually updated to the Leopard 1A5 specification.