Introduction

The following introduction is as supplied by Tankograd Publishing;

By experts considered as the best main battle tank in the world, the Leopard 2 now reaches its most recent stage of modernisation: the 2A7.
During an official ceremony at the Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) facility in Munich on 10 December 2014, the Bundeswehr had received the first of 20 upgraded Leopard 2A7 MBTs. Since June 2015 the 203rd Panzer Battalion fields 14 state-of-the-art 2A7s in its 2nd Company. These are organized in three platoons each with four MBTs and two MBTs for the company headquarters. An additional five vehicles are used by the Training Centre Munster, and another one was fielded by Training Centre Technical School Land Systems in Aachen.
This publication covers the introduction and the many technical improvements of the new 2A7-variant of the Leopard family in great detail.

Review

One of the latest books from Tankograd Publishing looks at the Leopard 2A7. This is one of Tankograd Publishing duel language offerings in German and English, German on the left of the page and English on the right. The book has a high quality card cover and good quality paper has been used inside, judging by the photographic quality on the paper. The book consists of 56 pages and has a good mix of text and images in an effort to satisfy both the modeller and those who are just interested in the vehicle.

The Leopard family of tanks just keeps going and going, and it must be by now one of the best military export successes since the Centurion tank, it certainly would have generated the most income of any military hardware ever. The latest Leopard out of the blocks is the Leopard 2A7, the first tanks of this series have not been in service a year yet and they already look to be another success story,

The text in the book provides a background on how the Leopard 2A7 came to be, and also provides information on just what changes have taken place. With this being such a new tank in this guise I am very surprised at the amount of information the book contains on the specifics of the 2A7. there are sections covering the ammunition, command and control kit and how it protects itself against mines and IED devices. This book despite its limited number of pages does make for an informative read.

The photographs in the book are all full colour and of a very good standard, I particularly like that the images are a mix of clean and dirty vehicles, and also covers tanks with and without the barracuda system fitted. Each of the images is accompanied with an informative caption which provides the information in both English and German.

The images in the book start with a good general walk around before moving in for the close ups, these start with a good look around the hull of the vehicle while the captions point you at specific points to take notice of. The wheels and suspension are treated to their own area of the book and this will please those who like their details just so. The turret is next on the list before the book moves on to areas such as the infantry phone and various weapons and optic devices. The photographs finish with a very good walk around of a Leopard 2A7 fitted out with the Barracuda system; I knew this system reduced the vehicles heat signature but I didn’t know it also reduced the heat inside the vehicle and helps protect electronics.

Saving the best till last on this title as far as the modeller out there goes, there is a set of 1/35th scale drawings included in this release. These provide drawings of the front, rear, both sides and above and will prove a popular inclusion of this title.

Conclusion

I feel that this book from Tankograd Publishing has something to offer both the modeller and those interested in the Leopard tank and its various types. There is a lot of written information included between the covers, far more than I expected to be provided. The pictures offer a good mix of general walk around shots and the super detail reference. Top all of this off with a set of scale drawings and the modeller should be a very happy person.