The upgraded Leopard 2A4M tanks have improved protection are less vulnerable to ambushes

Описание: The Leopard 2A4M CAN is a Canadian upgraded version of the Leopard 2A4 tank. In the mid 2000s Canadians realized the importance of main battle tanks when their Leopard C2 tanks were rushed in to Afghanistan. Canadians needed a better protected tank, especially against land mines and improvised explosive devices than their C2. There was no point to further upgrade the C2s that are nearly 40 years old and were become increasingly harder to maintain. In an attempt to renovate their heavy armor fleet and for their immediate needs in Afghanistan in 2007 Canada acquired 80 Leopard 2A4, and 20 Leopard 2A6 tanks from Dutch surplus stocks. Another 20 Leopard 2A6 tanks were borrowed from Germany. The oldest and less capable Leopard 2A4 tanks were used by Canadian training squadrons. It is worth noting that Canada actually acquired more Leopard 2A4 and Pz.87 tanks, however these were converted to support vehicles, such as combat engineer vehicles and armored recovery vehicles. In 2009 Canada commissioned Krauss-Maffei Wegmann of Germany to refurbish and upgrade 20 ex-Dutch Leopard 2A4 tanks to the Leopard 2A4M CAN standard. All of these tanks were completed in 2010. Between 2010 and 2011 five Leopard 2A4M tanks were deployed in Afghanistan.