Rheinmetall believes a plant in Ukraine can be built for around €200 million which could produce up to 400 Panther tanks annually it would also need to be protected against air attack from the ongoing 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Company CEO Armin Papperger said the first delivery could be in 15 to 18 months and suggests a factory in the country could be possible. In February 2023, Rheinmetall revealed they are in talks with Ukraine to export the KF51. Efforts to make the vehicle more environmentally friendly could result in an alternative hull being developed for the Panther. įurther developments under consideration for the vehicle including measures to make it more environmentally friendly during peacetime operations, the installation of a more powerful and more efficient powerpack, the integration of AI into the fire control system to enable automated target detection and identification, mounting an unmanned turret on the vehicle, and the creation of an unmanned version of the Panther. To reduce the weight of the Leopard 2A4 platform on which the development vehicle is based, Rheinmetall prioritised active over passive protection. The Panther has been developed as a private venture by Rheinmetall to demonstrate by 2026 the potential for increasing the lethality, mobility, survivability, and networking capabilities of MBTs without incurring a significant increase in weight. Rheinmetall began the development of major subsystems related to the Panther in 2016, with system-level design commencing in 2018. On 5 December 2022 Rheinmetall announced that it plans to mainly target existing Leopard 2 operators with the KF51. A new turret is to be mounted on the Leopard 2 the main gun is an autoloaded 130 mm calibre. The KF51 is based on the hull of the Leopard 2A4. KF is short for "Kettenfahrzeug", the German word for "tracked vehicle".
It was unveiled publicly at the Eurosatory defence exhibition on 13 June 2022. The Panther KF51 is a German main battle tank (MBT) that is under development by Rheinmetall Landsysteme (part of Rheinmetall's Vehicle Systems division). MTU MB 873 Ka-501 V-12 water-cooled diesel
12.7 mm coaxial machine gun (250 ready rounds), 7.62 mm NATTER RCWS (2,500 rounds)Īnd optional HERO 120 loitering ammunitions
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