The history of the Belgian Leopard and its variants
2024 ж. 29 Нау.
67 379 Рет қаралды
At a now-closed War Heritage Institute facility near Antwerp (They will be re-opening at another location), we get a tour firstly of the various leopard variants the Belgians used, and then look at one which has been partially disassembled to learn the components. Finally, we go for a spin.
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belgiumbattlefield.be/
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Poor guy looks so nervous, i talked to him about a week after the Chieftain when i visited the museum , very nice guy!
I think the English was a bit of a problem :D As a Belgian, this was really cool to see though, I've visited that museum a couple of times, great place.
He tried his best and it works
@@ForeverDoubting Last time i went there they were in the process of moving the tanks to Ypres but i can't seem to find info on the WHI website :(
People tend to get nervous when speaking in a foreign language. It is perfectly normal and not a lot you can do to alleviate the feeling.
He actually did quite well. I think people second guess themselves a lot more than they should when speaking.
When will the chieftain actually talk about or visit a chieftain????
Does the Chieftain fit into a Chieftain? How does the Chieftain get tensioned? Oh My God, the Chieftain is on fire!
I agree!
He has Look for his snapshot video on it.
You must be new; he's done a vid.
They named a tank after The Chieftain?!
Really appreciate the effort that Belgian bloke put into this informative interview. Even though English isn't his first language and i assume he was also nervous about being filmed, he did a great job. Thanks Cheiftain and Belgian bloke.
I am a volunteer at Site Gunfire Brasschaat, seeing one of my fellow volunteers being interviewed puts a smile on my face.
wow never knew this place even existed, looks ace!!
The look on your face when Vim offered you a drive , priceless.
29:43 for the time stamp
That was a very "Twist my arm why don't you." look. lol
How much i understand that feeling of nervuosness... The guy is doing great actually!
Chieftain knows how to do interviews: ask your question and let the subject answer. Don’t interrupt like news reporters do too often. In this case, he also did a good job helping his subject where English was obviously a second language.
My thoughts exactly. Great work Chieftan!
News reporters, unlike historians, have a duty to interrupt if the interviewed is trying to lie, deflect or weasel out of an important question. Unfortunately, too many reporters doesn't do that anymore and presumes honest intent and too many misinformation agents are allowed to false flag as reporters which creates a negative spiral.
You know news reporters letting people speak unquestioned for ages isn't usually a good thing right? Otherwise the interviewee has a tendency to mumble about taking up interview time to avoid difficult questions.
For someone of that generation, with an army career, probably his 3rd or 4th language. Back then you'd get Dutch + French + German + English in secondary school. In the miltary speaking French fluently was almost obligatory (as about 50% of the army was Walloon), and the units were based in Germany for long periods where they usually were rather integrated in local communities.
Likely a 3rd or 4th for a belgian XD usually they learn french german and dutch before english.
English is a hard language. You pulled it off chieftain
Its an easy language only English slang is hard
english is about as easy as it gets in respect to foreign languageges. Older generations just are not fluent in it. But i would bet on it, that he is fluent in french.
It’s completely run with volunteers. Very worth the visit. Chieftain pops up ? Getting a free Leopard ride 😅. How jealous are we ? 🤔
How envious; try olive drab! 😅
always loved the leopard . Like all tank designs, it is choosing the balance of firepower, mobility, and protection.
I am baffeld by how a multiple ton tank stops in less distance than my car
tracks, yo.
Friction surface area provided by the two to three dozen rubber pads on the tracks always touching the road compared to the four to six narrow rubber tyres on a car... A tank with all steel tracks will slide on hard surfaces like a hovercraft or soap on wet shower floors...
That and the brakes are very powerful. They need to be if you are going to be using them to steer with, and it's just a big heavy vehicle. The brakes on your car are sized to the weight of your car. You can make them stronger, but after a certain limit, the traction of the tires is the limiting factor and there is no reason to make them any larger, it won't help. A tank can install and use about as much braking power as you want. They make brakes to stop 747s from 200kts to 0 in a couple thousand feet. And they need fancy anti-lock brake systems to do it. The tires will lock up easily.
@@justforever96 ye my jonda CRV hardly has bigger brakes then a motorbike XD
@@justforever96 you cant run as much braking power as you want on a tank either. even on asphalt leo2 will completely lock up its tracks under heavy braking. Auto motor and sport magazine tested a leo2a4 against a porsche 993 and there are nice pictures of that test with leo2 leaving massive skid marks on the asphalt and the magazine wrote over the picture that 911 brakes with abs hence no skidmarks on the ground compared to the leo2 which has no abs and left a massive skidmark on the ground.
You could tell how disappointed Vim sounded when asked if the Belgian Army had the knowledge and capability to bring back tanks. 😢
Its a budget thing probably Belgium ain't a big country.
Belgium is putting more money in being eco friendly then self defence
You looked absolutely smitten and at home when you were being driven in the tank, and it certainly wasn't being babied either! Was awesome to see
As a Light Colonel. Nick will spend more time commanding a desk than anything with tracks and armour on it. So the chance to do what got him into the army in the first place...
Never thought I’d see a chieftain video series devoted to Belgium, lots learned so far!
Fun facts, the Leopard without turret is also in driving condition. The Leopard 1A1 was a later version downgraded back to A1 standard by Wim’s son who’s also a volunteer at the museum.
We had one "convertible" in our basic tank mechanic training unit with the Bundeswehr. This thing was dismantled and re-assembled for decades by raw recruits (at least one of which still has two left hands ...) and it still ran. After reassembly, the "drill" sergeant took us all on a ride.
I really do like the sound of that V10. Puts a smile on my face every time I hear it.
It's cool to listen to two professionals talk shop.
Love the sound of the leopard.
My memory may be a bit hazy as I'm an old git now but after basic training in The Royal Armored Corp at Catterick ( 5 weeks basic infantry training ) we did about 4 months of trade training that would be either driving and maintenance ( D&M ) or gunnery, first aid, NBC and phase one signals then we'd go to holding troop or straight to our regiments. Most of that would be either D&M or gunnery. At the end if your first trade was driving you'd sit your driving test and get a H license I got mine in May 1984. The same driving test rules applied for people in the forces as for civilians so no easy pass, you had to be able to drive on the road legally. Then in around a year you would have done your other major trade training either gunnery ( range period in Honer then live firing in Canada ( BATUS )) in my case or driving at your regiment and become a RAC Crewman with a bump in pay. Gunners who got to the regiment usually did at least one scheme driving so they knew how to drive a tank at least in a basic fashion. It's relatively easy to drive a tank but it takes a lot of time to learn how to drive one well and not destroy the engine, gearbox and running gear or beat the hell out of the rest of the crew. I learned on Chieftain then did a conversion to Challenger in late1986.
The quality of the videos has improved significantly. Both the video and audio are very clear and crisp.
Greetings from Antwerpen, Belgium. Looking forward to this because i saw these in service and always regretted their retirement.
Love the Belgiques. When their reserves sold off their last WWII vehicles in 1982 they first invited us across the border to have our pick of monument vehicles. I took a Scout car for my Brigade S-3 shop and 2-68 Armor an upgraded Sherman with ammo. They got in a lot of trouble by later railing it to Graf for gunnery.
The smile at 31:00... you can really tell he missed being in the TC position in a tank being driven relatively hard in comparison to other tanks he's ridden in! (ALSO SORRY I SKIPPED TO THE DRIVING PART!! am going back to the start now to watch in full)
You have to compare the performance of a Leopard 1 to other Tanks, the Leopard is not driven hard, the back would rise further when realy hard bracking. The Leopard is an old tank but the Abrams had to match the Leopards performance. I think he enjoys riding a Steel Beast which got the Performance of his old M1 Abrams again, that is what he misses and enjoys a fast Tank to ride. The old Leopard 1 is in the same Speed Bracket of 65 -70kph like the M1 Abrams, Leopard 2, T-80, T-90, K2 Black Panther. And that is it only those MBT of 40+ tons which are in this Speedbracket. He is the slowest and lightest of the pack but still a blast to sit in.
Chieftain is a gem because he throws softballs to let these guys talk about how much they know and or did. BZ.
Offering a tank ride to the Cheiftain you know he will ALWAYS say YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Loved the end where the Chieftain is in the TCs hatch. I miss being in the TC hatch.
I love this guy, he's struggling, but pulls off very well. I wish I could just speak English
I like how Nicholas's system of checking armor thickness on a tank is the same I use...the knock acoustic test! if it sounds like a rock...it's probably over 5cm thick. if you hear a clang, you can sorta accurately guess somewhere between .5cm-3cm depending on the resonance...if you have a good ear.
I visited this army museum Gunfire in Brasschaat Belgium it is an very nice museum it has not only thanks but also an very good section of the history of the second world war in Antwerp. The have also an very good display on leapards gunners learning tools. If you are interested in the matter it is the place to visit.
The facility is not closed at all, and the “new” location won’t open for quite some years to come. Opening hours can be found on gunfire artillery museum.
OK, who here was expecting a RSM to come running out screaming at Vim and the Chieftain for driving the Leopard 1 too fast inside the base compound? Yes, I realised later that this is a Museum, but I fully expected an RSM or Belgian equivalent to appear. Maybe it's just my own personal Reserve Service PTSD showing through? 😢 I never got yelled at for driving too fast inside the unit compound, but that doesn't mean that I wasn't expecting to be yelled at for something? Usually it was the Squadron Sergeant Majors that were the worst. The RSM was usually pretty cool because he had made RSM, the others were still wanting to climb the slippery pole. Mark from Melbourne Australia 🇦🇺 Former Australian Army Reservist '88 to mid 90s.
Active force. it will all be about the maintenance time and pad wear. A museum tank does not have to worry about having the vehicle in combat ready condition, just drivable and safe. Besides, Vim is showing of to a visiting "Treadhead".
The Leopard has got to be one of my favorite tanks of all time. Obviously it's well past its prime right now. But I think I would have felt very confident going onto a large scale conventional battlefield in the 1970s surrounded by a few of these things.
It's still good enough to serve as a protected infantry assault/support gun or heavy recon element.
@@SonsOfLorgar Indeed. I'm a firm believer in the mantra that any tank is better than no tank. Even on a modern battlefield the Leopard can still do nearly every job we'd ask of a modern tank (albiet less efficiently), with the only exception being the job of fighting other tanks. That's why I was always a supporter of the idea of sending Leopard 1s to Ukraine (on the understanding that they would be "in addition to" and not "instead of" any Leopard 2s sent).
Wow. what a great museum to put on the list! Did anyone else notice some of the other stuff as he was driving around? Very interesting! This is what my place is going to look like if/when I win the lottery. Great to see them thumping that Leo around like it was meant to be and not coddling it. I liked the smile on the Chieftain's face after the first stop. I hope he will do some more videos from here! EDIT: Aha! I was in the Royal Military Museum in the 90's and personally ranked it as one of the best military museums I have been to. And the staff was incredibly welcoming, despite my only being able to speak english with some terrible high-school French... I didn't have time to do any other locations but will definitely put them on my bucket list now.
Wow! When Vim says lets go for a ride, he's not kidding around.
First time the Chieftain has had no issues getting in and out of an armored vehicle lol
It's incredible to see somethig that big seemingly move and change direction effortlessly.
gotta love that engine purr.
Really nice he took you for a spin!
Great Video, and btw my favorite Tank with the best engine sound ever!
what a coincidense, as yesterday i was in the National Military Museum at Soesterberg, The Netherlands to see a Leopard A1 driving in the arena. Old, but still a nice beast to see running around.
Thank you for an excellent video. Wim certainly enjoyed his playtime at the end😁. Cheers from NZ.
Why ignore the jagpanter ? During my time in the Belgian army I saw one of these everyday . The most beauty tank in the Belgian army ! Thanks for these interviews about Belgian tanks
Very nice Video. Thanks a lot to the War Heritage Institute for hosting the Chiftain. It would be nice to see this collection one day in person
Great fun of a ride!!!
If your offering YES! Thanks for the video.
Excellent insight 👍
Great Job! Great Info! Cheers!
Happy Easter to you and yours Kelly
all the Belgian leopard 1A5BE's are now in Ukraine, i hope they perform very well i personally remember when these tanks where still in service until 2014 and i think it's a big offense (if not an outright crime) not only towards the military but also the country to allow it's army to have no tanks (or AA or 155 SPG's)
An interesting conundrum. For many years, any danger to Belgium would have to approach through a threat corridor by sea -- past Scotland and England -- or through the Netherlands, or France, or Germany. So coastal patrol frigates and coastal submarines would make sense, but all likely threats would be entering the country legally (or illegally, but via the same means). Meanwhile, Fabrique National de Belgiac (spelling?) has maintained the policy of keeping on-hand a new rifle, submachine-gun, or pistol, of the latest types, for every Belgian citizen, as it has since something like 1950; the military and police are to maintain custody and training for crew-served weapons including anti-tank and anti-aircraft, also of the latest types, as a core to provide leadership in the event of a need for national defense, as per resolutions passed 1947 (1946?)-1965 inclusive.
@@davidgoodnow269 Very interesting
@@Toolazyfornewname It was an eye-opener, one that stuck with me! Have you watched Perun's channel, the update on Global Arms Trade dropped this morning; FN, "We arm the World, (so we can afford to keep sufficient of all our latest for domestic use)!"
@@davidgoodnow269 The second part of your post is patently not true......
@@annadalassena5460 I take it you have never bothered to read the Defense Council's typed records in Brussels for that time period, and then asked around to see if it's still S.O.P. As of 1997, it was.
Those a beautiful machines for sure its still a really good potent platform to modernise its modular!
Mind Blown, someone who knows more about other tanks than the Chief?
that ride was fun!
Those brakes are amazing.
Sounds great.
One hell of an emergency stop! I can feel my fillings rattling just looking at it .
Very interesting, thanks!
Super cool seeing that leopard ripping at the end! That Stops on a dime. Vin can sure drive! The driver's head looks like it's touching the turret. Wouldn't want the turret to be spinning with your head out.
Compared to our 60's, those were the hot rods!
Great video.
Talks about how intimidating IS-3 was, but on video at least, Leopard 1 is much more intimidating IMO b/c of it's speed.
Guy seems to be the classic nerd type, just really loves his tanks and can tell you all about them, but is pretty socially awkward and not at all militaristic or anything. I love guys like this, the same ones that get into cars or trains or airplanes or whatever. They are usually the best sort of people.
Make no mistake, he's ex military. See him drive the heck out of the tank at the end.
very informative and hell is this leopard agile!
HAHA that drive at the end was great. Leopard sure breaks!
Assuming that was Vim driving, I'm not sure I believe his claim to have never raced his tank. :D
What you call racing Belgian tank drivers call driving. We knew very well we had to keep out of the way of those Leopards as we didn't know if they were even willing to brake for an obstacle.
@@flitsertheo obstacle... that's a very interesting way to spell "flight time opportunity" 😂
very cool and not so much known feature on leopard 1 tanks is the exaust sound, this will make so much noise that you cant tell how many leopard 1 tanks that are coming or where they come from.... you hear a sound coming closer and higher towards you but where does is come from.................. norwegian leaoprd 1 tanks welded steel inforced guides under the enginebay floor because it was worn fast down by rocks and other hard materials in the nature...
I'll be visiting that place in 2 weeks...
Thank you for the awesome video. Any plans of doing video of Merkava tank? Always wanted to know about those tanks.
Theres stationary merkava displays out in the open in the desert near Jerusalem. Visited a few years ago and sat in the drivers seat through the hatch. Very cool
The panzer museum in munster has one on display
Saumur has an Merkava 1B
Thanks for the video. Thanks also to Vim (spelling?) for his wealth of information!
10:12 Leopard 1A5BE cdr sight: TRP 5A, in principle the same TRP as before, but longer tube for moving line of sight above new gunners sight.
Chieftain will have to go check out a Canadian C-2 Mexas for a comparison.
The WTS in Koblenz has a Leo 1 with the side opened up
You should check out Drachinifel today and provide the ground forces used in that incident:-). As always, love your stuff.
Vim was flooring it :D
Oh the sweet sound of a Leo 1
Well this people are fun! When they are asked: we have one in the world prototype of the tank. Would you like to play with it? What kind of answer they expect?
Wim. It's not Vim, but Wim (short for Willem). Vim is a cleaning product.
Nicolas looked to be enjoying himself with Vim showing off the speed of the leopard. Vim certainly likes putting the brakes on!
AS a belgian guys. It's paintfull to watch this video. The guest had hard time with Englsih. It could be beter to translate what he was saying. Because I think we miss a lot of information. But thanks for the video
Missing comments on the ride from the Chieftain
If your offering, Yes!!!!
The Panther and Tiger at looking at the quick stop and screaming about the transmission.
Faz um vídeo mostrando o m551
A small heads up to people wanting to visit the Gunfire museum in Brasschaat where this was filmed. The area with all the heavy equipment (like tanks) is now closed to the public, as I found out today unfortunately… Apparently they are preparing all the vehicles to be moved to Ieper.
The german Leopard 1´s didnt get a late 80´s early 90´s armor upgrade. MEXAS-H as mounted on the belgian and canadian Leopard 1´s improves protection vs RPG´s and 30mm cannons and is a mid to late 90´s applique armor. You could mount it on german Leopard 1A5´s, as its mounting is universal for the cast turret. MEXAS-H is a ceramic-steel-rubber layered composite
M60 had the same issues with driver egress when the gun was at 12-o'clock.
My first thought: Bernard got a bit old and lost his amazing accent?!
Wow those Leopards are proper little sports cars aren’t they.
Drive normally, but when I tap on the dash I would like you to safely perform an emergency stop!
Vim really driving it like he stole it 👌
Good thing you can answer your own questions:-)
The Belgian army was weird. When the Germans and the Dutch applied applique armor to their Leo 1's and had the Leo 2 enter service the Belgians stuck with the basic Leo 1. They only began to upgrade their Leo 1's when the Cold War was over and everyone else was downsizing and ditching their Leo 1's.
"No one expects . . . _the Spanish Inquisition!"_ Buy the upgrades when they're on clearance, just in case everyone else is being duped!
@@davidgoodnow269😂😂😂
Mister Chieftain, do you think youll ever get to cover modernized Turkish M60s? Thank you :)
Really depends on if any become available
@TheChieftainsHatch you might be able to cover the Sabres, a Isreali modernization of the M60s for the turkish landforces. They were on display a few tines to my knowledge, but I don't know if they still are on displays nowadays. Regardless, thank you for the reply :D
It breaks my heart that Canada paid to have its ~45 remaining Leopard C2 (1A5) tanks (including MEXAS variants) turned into target pieces in December 2021. Those 45 tanks would've been useful for Ukraine in its war against Russia and been a sizable contribution to the 🇩🇪🇩🇰🇳🇱 Leopard 1 consortium. At least 25-50 Belgian 1A5BEs will end up in Ukraine, thanks to Rheinmetall buying them off OIP.
I do miss that sound, especially when my driver pushed it a bit
19:06 How cool would that be in rush hour?
My dog started growling at the leopard😂
Go for a ride? No, I would hate that...NOT! You looked like a kid in a candy store. Too cool.
I've always wondered how they get electricity into the turret without wires that will just get tangled as the turret rotates.
Slip rings. On the turret ring or under the turret floor there's two sets of of a copper slip ring and a spring loaded copper pickup, one for each polarity. As the turret turns, the pickups slide along the rings, maintaining contact and power transfer. Modern tanks probably has some kind of UIP or APU system with it's own battery in the turret that is kept topped up though the slip rings to keep the electronics fed without risk of micro glitches.
The people the searchlight was illuminating could not see the Leopard, due to retinue burnout!
Had to look it up but Gunfire is a rum tea.
19:49 this is the weirdest tank type I've ever seen