french mbt Leclerc XLR, extending the life of a good tank

[CaID 8,996]

v

 

I would like to suggest a pretty good tank, possibly the final version of the Leclerc, the Leclerc XLR

 

 

the Leclerc XLR is a upgrade of the Leclerc MBT. the upgrade is rather basic. it on one side, improve the protection of the tank who was already pretty well armoured, but also modernize the equipment inside of the tank, such as the sight. the tank also introduce a new Rounds developed by KNDS, the 120mm Shard. this tank. the Lecler XLR was designed from 2015 and the upgrade was started to be incorporate to the existing Leclerc since 2020. 198 Lerclerc would be upgraded by 2028.  this upgrade is intended to extend the life of the Leclerc until his replacement by the next generation of MBT (which would probably have a 140mm gun)

Firepower

the main armament remain the same as the other Leclerc. the classic 120mm CN-120-26 is a gun that the French Player can rely on. but to increase the effectiveness, the Leclerc XLR would have access to the new 120 Shard rounds which was revealed on June 2022. this rounds of a improved effectiveness would really raise the Leclerc to a new level. beside this rounds, the tank would remain just as good as the other Leclerc..

additionally the Lecler MBT also feature secondary armament

• 1x 12.7mm M2HB is placed as coaxial
• 1x 7.62mm LMG is normally placed on a remote turret and controled by the commander

 

 

120 mm GIAT CN120-26 F1					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	40	-8°/+20°	±180°	Two-plane	28.6	39.5	48.0	53.1	56.5	6.00	6.00	6.00	6.00
Realistic					17.9	21.0	25.5	28.2	30.0

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
OCC 120 G1	HEATFS	480	480	480	480	480	480
OFL 120 G1	APFSDS	425	423	417	410	404	396
OFL 120 F1	APFSDS	575	573	565	557	547	537
120 Shard	APFSDS	675	673	665	657	647	637

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile Mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
OCC 120 G1	HEATFS	1,100	14.4	0.05	0.1	2,150	65°	72°	77°
OFL 120 G1	APFSDS	1,780	3.8	N/A	N/A	N/A	78°	80°	81°
OFL 120 F1	APFSDS	1,790	3.8	N/A	N/A	N/A	78°	80°	81°
120 Shard	APFSDS	1.720	est. 5.7	N/A	N/A	N/A	78°	80°	81°

 

Mobility

the Leclerc XLR is not receiving any real improvement on the mobility. it have the same 1474 hp engine, the same transmission, the same suspension, and the same gearbox. but it is heavier. 57,000 kg make the XLR the heaviest Leclerc. reducing the mobility a bit. as the power/weight ration would fall to 25.85 hp/ton. but this will not be so much different than the XXI. the Leclerc XLR would remain a MBT with a great mobility

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	79	42	57	2,285	2,812	40.09	49.34
Realistic	72	38		1,304	1,474	22.88	25.85

 

 

Protection

the armour of the Leclerc XLR is improved. the front of the turret and the side of the hull is given even more modular composite armour. and the rear of the tank now include slat armour. this increase significantly the resistance against ATGM and chemical energy rounds, but the weakness of the Leclerc XLR remain the same as any Leclerc. the tank also feature additional IED jammer, Killer/hunder system, automatic fire suppressor, and Galix grenade launchers. beside those improvement, the rest of the tank is the same as the other Leclerc MBT.

Armour	Front	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	Upper Glacis: 140-300 mm APFSDS sloped at 77 degrees	30-65 mm Front + Est. 500 mm APFSDS / 570 mm 20-55 mm Back + cage arnour	10-20 mm + cage arnour	5-25mm
Turret	600-800 mm APFSDS Turret cheeks 500 mm APFSDS / 570 mm HEAT Gunner's optic	180+mm APFSDS, 230+mm HEAT	Ammo storage: 45mm APFSDS, 270 mm HEAT (with integrated ERA blocks) Turret back: 20 mm + cage arnour	20-40 mm
Cannon	90-460 mm against APFSDS	N/A	N/A	N/A

 

 

Specifications
Mass	57 tonnes
Length	9.87 m (6.88 without gun [3] )
Width	3.60 m [3]
Height	2.53 m [3]
Crew	3 [3] (Commander, gunner, driver)
Armour	modular composite armor SXXI version include titanium and semi-reactive layers.
Main armament	GIAT CN120-26/52 120mm tank gun [3] 40 rounds (1 round ready to fire in the chamber, 22 rounds inside the autoloader magazine with additional 18 rounds cylinder in the hull)
Secondary armament	12.7 mm coaxial M2HB machine gun (1,100 rounds) 7.62 mm machine gun (3,000 rounds)
Engine	V8X SACM (Wärtsilä) 8-cylinder diesel engine 1,100 kW (1,500 hp) [3]
Power/weight	25.85 hp/tonne [3]
Transmission	Automatic SESM [5]
Suspension	hydropneumatic
Fuel capacity	1300 litres (1700 with fuel drums)
Operational range	550 km (342 mi), 650 km (404 mi) with external fuel [3]
Maximum speed	72 km/h (44 mph) on the road 55 km/h (34 mph) off road

 

Source

https://www.armyrecognition.com/main_battle_tank_heavy_armoured_france_french_army/leclerc_scorpion_xlr_mbt_main_battle_tank_technical_data_sheet_specifications_pictures_video_10704171.html

https://bulgarianmilitary.com/2022/02/19/newest-leclerc-xlr-tank-gets-new-rws-and-fn-herstal-12-7mm-gun/

https://nailsalonupperwestside.blogspot.com/2021/05/leclerc-xlr-army-guide-leclerc-tank-was.html

https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/europe/leclerc-xlr.htm

https://en.topwar.ru/184698-leclerc-xlr-konkurent-armate-ili-popytka-dognat-leopard.html

Spoiler

 

 

Edited June 19, 2022 by CaID

[kurururocks 210]

Open for discussion

[Abaddon75 460]

one "No" why??? I mean if it's just because you want more support vehicles around to add variety of gameplay, I must agree on that idea but refusing a modernised variant of Leclerc for that is absolute bumer

[CaID 8,996]

1 hour ago, Abaddon75 said:

one "No" why??? I mean if it's just because you want more support vehicles around to add variety of gameplay, I must agree on that idea but refusing a modernised variant of Leclerc for that is absolute bumer

maybe the same who voted "no" on the EMBT

 

but for some it's a matter of Redundancy. if you do not realize it have a much better rounds available, you will look at this tank and think "one more leclerc" and feel like there might be no more need to have another one

[Milocat 4,855]

+1 to help flesh out top tier.

[Yontzee 1,675]

A must need +1

Edited June 22, 2022 by Yontzee

[ChatBonk 5]

Awesome addition +1

[foxy48514 14]

+1

[Yontzee 1,675]

Has France developed any form of APS to integrate into their Leclerc's? Anything additional planned for the XLR program?

Edited December 12, 2022 by Yontzee

[totolescargo 598]

33 minutes ago, Yontzee said:

Has France developed any form of APS to integrate into their Leclerc's? Anything additional planned for the XLR program?

Not to my knowledge. Neither soft or hard kill APS.

 

The whole doctrine of the French army is to move quickly, hit the enemy and go back. Survivability isn't what matters the most to the French.

 

Thus, in-game It is worse armored than its counterparts but only has a tiny bit more mobility.

It's a shame the quirks of the Leclerc's engine and mobility aren't represented in-game ...

Edited December 12, 2022 by totolescargo

[The_Chad_Rammer 27]

i bet it gets OFL F1 XD cuz gaijin thinks: France too stronk we need to buff BVM, T72b3 and give it 5 second reload and 3bm59

Edited January 5, 2023 by The_Chad_Rammer

[MasterOfUltramar 1,711]

+1

But watch gaijin give the breech 10mm-->air-->gunbreech.

I hope they unnerf the engine and turret traverse at least.

Edited January 10, 2023 by GuyCBRN

[eleks12 1,079]

+1

[Hanjo 21]

- 1

Why add a Leclerc that will add little or nothing ? The only change will be the increase in time to get the last tank in the tree.

It has little change compared to Leclerc XXI, and its only use would be as a premium to help climb the tree without going through the first ranks.

For information, the XLR's improvements cannot be put into play, and therefore, it would be a Leclerc XXI bis.

 

The Leclerc 140 T4 would have more legitimacy, and even then, only because of its cannon.

Three Leclercs is not bad, just the Leclerc Crotale and the AZURE/CLARA kits are missing, but they can easily add these to the existing Leclercs.

[Mobius_Einherjar 102]

2 hours ago, Hanjo said:

- 1

Why add a Leclerc that will add little or nothing ? The only change will be the increase in time to get the last tank in the tree.

It has little change compared to Leclerc XXI, and its only use would be as a premium to help climb the tree without going through the first ranks.

For information, the XLR's improvements cannot be put into play, and therefore, it would be a Leclerc XXI bis.

 

The Leclerc 140 T4 would have more legitimacy, and even then, only because of its cannon.

Three Leclercs is not bad, just the Leclerc Crotale and the AZURE/CLARA kits are missing, but they can easily add these to the existing Leclercs.

Wut?

 

It adds a lot of side armor, a new round and a a new roof mounted MG that can be used to shoot down helis (admittedly the other Leclercs should have the AA-52 but gaijin is being weird about it for no reasons). There's also talks of adding an APS to the Leclerc XLR (PROMETEUS), so that would be another thing that could come down the line at some point.

That's plenty to justify a new tank.

 

And the Leclerc Crotale doesn't exist beyond paper as far as I know. Saudi's Shahine uses an AMX-30 Roland chassis to carry the Crotale, not the Leclerc.

Edited February 15, 2023 by Mobius_Einherjar

[CaID 8,996]

On 15/02/2023 at 10:53, Hanjo said:

- 1

Why add a Leclerc that will add little or nothing ? The only change will be the increase in time to get the last tank in the tree.

It has little change compared to Leclerc XXI, and its only use would be as a premium to help climb the tree without going through the first ranks.

For information, the XLR's improvements cannot be put into play, and therefore, it would be a Leclerc XXI bis.

 

The Leclerc 140 T4 would have more legitimacy, and even then, only because of its cannon.

Three Leclercs is not bad, just the Leclerc Crotale and the AZURE/CLARA kits are missing, but they can easily add these to the existing Leclercs.

it just show that you neither have the understanding of what is an upgrade or what is the game balance

 

this version of the Leclerc add more protection and fire-power.

the armour is massively improve, epecially on the side and rear and the firepower is a lot better, making the French 120mm catch up with the German L/55 and maybe finally penetrate the armour of the Russian MBT ingame. it have 100 extra mm of penetration which is not nothing. i could even bring this tank to a BR of 12.0 in the current balance (if they finally decompress the top tier completely). this tank would match the Leopard 2A7+, Abrams X or the Challenger 3

[Thatz 637]

recently went through firing trails 
English article on it:
https://www.armyrecognition.com/defense_news_june_2023_global_security_army_industry/french_army_procurement_agency_tests_new_leclerc_xlr_120mm_cannon_firing_capabilities.html

Edited June 7, 2023 by Thatz