Geschichte(n) aus Stahl, Folge 11: Der Stealth-Leopard

Welcome to another episode of the story according to Stahl today with the vtg that gives general protection to the test vehicle. This vehicle is also sometimes colloquially called a tank. It was and is the only one of its kind. It was a test vehicle, a unique prototype whose purpose and purpose was to answer Give up a single question How can you hide a tank How can you hide a vehicle on the Cold War battlefield? Of course, the first question that arises is what is the main problem with the tank on the battlefield in the 80s was infrared.

Infrared has been known for a long time. The principle of throne radiation has been known since the 19th century. The first infrared cameras have existed since 1929. Work was already underway in Germany in 1936 to make infrared usable on the battlefield, so the idea was tested and implemented. How can infrared radiation be used in the dark? Seeing that becoming able to fight at night progressed relatively quickly and in 42 and 44 the first devices were tested in action or on the ground, although in very small quantities and that was never a mass phenomenon and was also very problematic, but proof was provided that power could be fought for.

So all the armies investigated it with infrared light and in 1957 the E55 "was the first tank in which infrared was installed and used on a large scale. The whole principle was still relatively dangerous because you had to work with active infrared radiation. So really You had to shine in battle in the infrared spectrum and that had danger or carried the danger that oneself could be detected and destroyed, however, the night combat capability was so good that more work was carried out on it. Infrared technology in combination with electronic image processing system is so advanced that one of the 70s.

In the early 80s, heat was used on a large scale through devices, which means that the ability of neighbors now occurs to the extent that tanks can be recognized and engaged quickly or easily in the dark. Over time, the combination of infrared and millimeter wave technology has led artillery to slowly develop the first smart munition. So we could use munitions that could distinguish between ground targets with intelligent friend-foe reconnaissance that could target exactly what was there and hit it. From this combination arose the attempt to hide the tanks and not just the tanks as close to the vehicles as possible.

Knowing these reasons, products such as the B 2 bomber or the F 117 or even ships that today have this shape, the idea also arose. that with certain measures the vehicles could be made not invisible, but at least more difficult to detect by radio or by thermal imaging devices, and hence the idea behind the VTG arose in the mid-80s. It was built and tested in Paderborn, that's why it was first assembled and then measured in the different spectra and checked if the principle worked. So what was done with this vehicle? The general protection name of the test vehicle already demonstrates this.

Different approaches were chosen. The first is actually optical protection or optical protection. optical camouflage. The vehicle has a triple steel coating which seems completely normal to us, but was still relatively new back then. You remember 84, it comes in NATO, it really is one. Before there were monochromes and a layer of colored paint so that "It was nothing new for the piano at that time, but simply the latest in technology. The other two errors, infrared and Radler, are much more important. The shape. The striking shape is due to the Rhader signature. The cross section of the Rhader reflector is what it is actually called or, as is often said in simple terms, the signature is broken here by two things: firstly, or more specifically reduced, firstly , the shape is the typical shape of the 80s, large surfaces, few spaces, few, few accessories, few things, small corners, edges or angles and this is important so that the wheel does not reflect in large quantities and then give a clear image.

It will not be possible to prevent a ball from falling. it is reflected in certain corners and ends it even has problems because it sounds strange but it can be reduced Less is better and that is what makes this tank see that clearly there are only large areas there few accessories everything is kept as smooth and as bad as possible, few gaps, few cracks, etc., the first is Raadter's signature shape, the second, which unfortunately has not been preserved. Typically, there was a liner on this test vehicle. This coating was made of Rhade absorbent materials. There are different varnishes and colors that serve to make the Radlers basically say that they are swampy on this surface, which are mostly gray and anthracite-colored paints, you know this also from the typical products b 217, these are always On these dark vehicles, this coating ensures that the Iranian radiation is not reflected but, as I said, disappears into the paint, so to speak, this is very short and in simple terms to express that unfortunately it is not preserved what has survived the decades of storage, so you have to think about it, so the rada 1 optical camouflage forms only two the coating that is no longer there third infrared field the overall protection of the test vehicle you see here is based on a

leopard

In this package there is a

leopard

1 one with an EU welding tower it has a typical property that it has or a feature that many people know it has on the back of the sides of the hack the exhaust device is where the gases come out exhaust gases come out hot from a hot internal combustion engine Infrared bar thermal imaging devices can be used on the Leopard 1, the exhaust gases are already mixed with cooling air to reduce this, but this is still the case.

These exhaust air vents are the Leopard's hottest spots. They can be seen perfectly in an infrared image. They are almost an aid to aiming. Other parts of the vehicle will also be hot, you can see it in the partially hot engine cover and so on due to the heat rising from the engine when the tower is rotated accordingly, all This is typical of the time, this is not a weakness of the leopard, but here below is number 1 and that's why let's talk about this in the test vehicle, general protection, this was addressed directly and then instead of blowing out the hot air.

On the sides a ring cooling system was installed that emits the exhaust gases towards the rear, so they are first cooled by a ring cooling system and then they are emitted from the rear, no longer on the side that this. Looking, please clarify as the rear and they are released to the outside under a shield and diffuse slightly, so they cool, hide, protect and distribute a little and this leads to the same exhaust gases being produced in the same engine in the infrared recognition of the VTG. It is much less visible. A second measure taken here is that the plates and additional armor that optimizes the Iranian design also counteract infrared reconnaissance because they are slightly offset and have buffers in the armor placed and therefore a cover that is around them that does not open and this distance the distance between ensures that the heat generated inside is hidden like underneath a hood, you can imagine this very well in the aprons along the chain behind the contactor is the bathtub and In the tub is the engine, the heater, etc., that means that the gearbox would actually light up in front of it, but this cover, which by the way, in the case of the test vehicle is made of fiberglass plastic , but Otherwise they are made of special materials and this cover hides the goods because the heat is removed naturally.

There is still a diffuse, we pass the whole vehicle over it, all of this means that the heat is hidden a little bit by this additional armor, which means that the test vehicle has overall protection, so it has a shape and a top layer , a coating against Rhade, it has measures against infrared recognition, it has optical protection and it has this additional armor, that is, physical protection which, as I said, is represented here by Art in fiberglass. All of this has provided valuable information. The vehicle has obviously never been mass produced and the problems that arise from this are really the necessities of building such a vehicle.

The needs were even greater than the benefit would have been, but the findings of This vehicle is now processed on the Puma and Boxer, for example, to shape the surface coating etc., which is also in the system cooling, etc. pp, that means that this vehicle was built in Paderborn in the eighties. It is the only one of its kind. "We're happy that it's been preserved for so long and is now with us. It's an important milestone in tank development, even if there was only one and it's actually barely known. So that's one of those vehicles that if you're looking for on Google with the On the internet you will find very little about it, a truly unique piece that is now new to us at the tank museum.

Come see us. We are looking forward to seeing you.