Panther KF51
| Panther KF51 | |
|---|---|
Rheinmetall Panther KF51 | |
| Type | Main battle tank |
| Place of origin | Germany |
| Service history | |
| In service | Not yet in service |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Rheinmetall |
| Designed | Commenced 2016 |
| Specifications (Hull) | |
| Mass | 59 tonnes (58 long tons; 65 short tons) |
| Length | 7.8 m (10 m with tank gun) |
| Width | 3.7 m |
| Height | 2.5 m |
| Crew | 3–4
|
| Armour | Composite armour, reactive armour and active protection systems (StrikeShield) |
Main armament | Rh-130 L/52 130 mm smoothbore cannon (up to 20 rounds) |
Secondary armament | 12.7 mm coaxial machine gun (250 rounds), 7.62 mm 'Natter' RCWS (2,500 rounds) |
| Engine | MTU MB 873 Ka-501 V-12 water-cooled diesel 1,500 PS |
| Power/weight | 25.4 PS/t |
| Transmission | Renk HSWL 354 |
| Suspension | Torsion bar |
| Fuel capacity | 1,100 L (242 imp gal; 291 US gal) |
| Maximum speed | 70 kilometres per hour (43 mph) |
The Panther KF51 (KF is short for German "Kettenfahrzeug" lit. 'tracked vehicle') is a German fourth-generation main battle tank (MBT) that is under development by Rheinmetall. It was unveiled publicly at the Eurosatory defence exhibition on 13 June 2022. Different variants of the Panther KF51 are being co-developed by Rheinmetall with N7 in Hungary and Leonardo in Italy.
The KF51 is based on the hull of the Leopard 2A4, but with a new turret mounting an autoloaded 130 mm main gun. On 5 December 2022, Rheinmetall announced its plans to target mostly existing Leopard 2 operators with the KF51.