Tank origin

In 1974, the U.S. and the Federal Republic of Germany entered into a Memorandum of Understanding. The goal: to coordinate their technologies and produce a main battle tank in line with NATO standards. To meet U.S. requirements, Germany produced the Leopard 2AV, its “Austere Version” of the Leopard 2, which was tested against the U.S.’s XM-1 prototype in 1976. Testing demonstrated that, while the Leopard 2AV showed high mobility, the XM-1 had higher armor protection, leading to the use of the XM-1 as the basis for further designs. Manufactured by Germany