Why France's Tank is the World's Most Expensive

[@Taskandpurpose]

Get Your Own Mini Model GOAT Replica Today! bit.ly/3N3GYHT

[@a_smiling_gamer9063]

hi

[@StabbinJoeScarborough]

TOW GOAT Gun?

[@Luceq]

I am currently wearing my GOAT AK hung on a gold chain.

[@bawicz0]

but why tho

[@joonasnaski9513]

Everything seems to need to chill out in your opinion. i´d appreciate if you used some other title for once. This one is fine but its getting kinda boring for me at least.

[@e2rqey]

The main reason France produced their tank domestically is because one of their main priorities as far as defense goes is maintaining a very strong domestic defense industry. Which is part of their larger goal of making sure they need to rely as little as possible on other nations when it comes to the production and creation of all of their military technology, especially when it comes to more advanced systems like Tanks, Planes, and precision munitions.

[@kittytrail]

not "is", "was"... 🙄

[@mkultra3679]

While this is an honorable goal, it has also lead to a desperate need of pumping money into their defence industry... Hence the search for more European projects with more partners such as jets and tanks

[@thomaslacornette1282]

@@mkultra3679 We ruin our economy with our politicans not with our weapons industry. And also by being a Nato member and having thiose stupid sanctions on Russia that ruining europe and all this money and older weapons going to Ukraine.

[@Warmaker01]

Developing your own weapons, vehicles, etc. is very expensive. I'd been watching too many Perun videos and the impression I get on designing, building, funding your own tanks, planes, etc. is long and expensive. Only a few countries in the world today can do this, and France is one of the few that can. Even the United States had to get other people on board to lessen the costs of some of these projects, i.e. the F-35. The other thing people like about being able to design, produce their own systems is the political independence. If someone else that you depend for your weapons disagrees with your nation's political goals, they can... "persuade" you to change your stance and do what they say. How do you say "No" to the nation that is in charge of providing and maintaining, replacing your weapon systems?

[@Axel23410]

​@@mkultra3679 thats more of a present day issue than anything. New fighter plane programs need a much more considerable amount of money to produce than before. Even the F35 program was not financed by the US alone.

[@ItsAVolcano]

France has quietly been one of the world's top weapon exporters since the end of WW2. Any country that wants quality modern western equipment and can't/won't work with the US will typically buy French.

[@tomriley5790]

Or steal it if you're Israel...

[@coolsonic8982]

what country can't buy from the US but can buy French ? Most of the time Us & France ban sales on the same countries...

[@Risson91]

@@coolsonic8982 i believe it is more complex than that, yes sometimes france ban the whole weapon but will still sale the part of it or other technology

[@tommygun5038]

​​@@ItsAVolcano....India wants to remain non aligned. Makes sense in their neighborhood.

[@hyokkim7726]

@@coolsonic8982 Saudis, UAE, Turkiye?

[@ProfessorPicke]

I really love french military design, they just keep doing every single thing that I think makes sense. The wheeled vehicles, the emphasis on recognizance and mobility. people shit on them for ww2, but that wasn't france. The real france is, and has always been talented at war.

[@gaetan4164]

No one copies the French and the French copy no one

[@JohnHughesChampigny]

@@angelaferkel7922 And why France defeated Germany in 1944-1945.

[@GhostScout42]

​@JohnHughesChampigny that was in order soviets, us, british that one that one. France is lucky to exist

[@maxencebaudoin7889]

​@@GhostScout42kinda like your country

[@Lokiskade]

@@angelaferkel7922 It wasn't just the french that were defeated in 6 weeks in 1940, it was the UK too. And the UK army could only escape in Dunkerque because the french stayed behind to stall the germans. Nobody was prepared for the new type of war the germans came up with. Would the UK not be a bunch of islands, they would have been conquered as well.

[@allanlees299]

While the French may only be able to field 200 MBTs, let's remember that the UK is estimated to have the ability to field only around 60 MBTs. So France is doing a great deal better than its supposed equal across the channel

[@stanislaskowalski7461]

You get it. The UK is safe behind the Channel. British tanks are mostly required for an expeditionary force, less so for home defence.

[@ganyumaindayone1112]

@@stanislaskowalski7461 and france is safe behind its nuclear umbrella, no one without a death wish will try to invade france nowadays especially when france nuclear doctrine is to use nuclear weapon as a warning france in 2023 should focus more on having enough to field 2 to 3 well equiped infantry division to help nato allies and focus the rest of their military budget on sea and air power where they have to protect the overseas territories against country like china

[@marcsole4261]

We don't need all these type of toys we just need more nuclear missiles to target all cities in the world!

[@AuxenceF]

@@marcsole4261 sometime you need something more powerful than a stern warning but less than a nuclear missile

[@stanislaskowalski7461]

@ganyumaindayone1112 The nuclear umbrella is a desperate solution. No one really wants to use it. In fact, it is not obvious that it is a sufficient deterrence. There are circumstances that would make it difficult to use, when responsibilities are blurry and the flow of events is complicated. It would theoretically protect us from an all-out attack. Not so much in case of a campaign that happens to go bad. Being a nuclear power doesn't protect Russia from strikes and incursions on its territory. The situation is simply not bad enough for risking nuclear annihilation.

[@murphylawson9859]

Sadly, joint ventures between France and Germany almost never work. Germans always try to get most of the profits (economical, industrial, strategic,...) from those and don't hesitate to con France any way they can ....

[@heyho4770]

Bruh France is a notoriously difficult Partner in that regard. Germany has done plenty of joint developments while France tends to back out of them

[@olinxy6886]

@@heyho4770 The Concorde was a commercial failure but an engineering succes and was a franco-british program, the jaguar same thing (idk if it was exported tho but it was a military plane so it's not the subject here), the FREMM (new frigate) with Italy... I'm sure I can find more cooperations project that worked with France, only listing the ones i remember

[@siadwarsame2045]

Because Germans want a tech transfer from the French, so that’s clearly the problem. French want to share the money, but has the know how.

[@heyho4770]

@@olinxy6886 Tornado,Eurofighter, the Boxer, The U212A and if we're not very accurate even the Leopard 2 and the Abrams. (both were results of the MBT 70 Project and both copied from each other for the sake of standartisation, adapting parts from both countries) Funnily for the Tornado, The Eurofighter and the Boxer France either backed out of the previous program or quit the program

[@olinxy6886]

@@heyho4770 For the Eurofighter, it's not a great plane, it's ok but every counterpart on the market have all something if it's not everything better. Grippen is less expensive, F35 is more stealth and the Rafale is just better in all points. France backed out because they needed a light two engine multi-role fighter that could go on aircraft carrier where Germany and England wanted a heavier air-air focus plane. France made her own prototype who was better than the english one and a real two engine (the english one had a common air entry for both engines, so their are not independant). Seeing this, France backed out, you're not going to pay for a shitty plane that does not suit your needs. Germany backed out of the MBT70 project to develop the Leopard 2 on its own... For the SCAF, germany try again to re-negociate the agreements, buy F35 and want a free knowledge transfert... Like wft. For the MGCS, the deal was 50/50 between KNW and Nexter, now they want to renegociate a 33/33/33 because Rheinmetal want to go in... So 66% of german compagnie. In top of that, Rheinmetal want to force their 130mm canon instead of the Nexter ASCALON who seems to be better and with a better evolution capacity (and they want to force something after getting added after LOL). Germany is also buying new Leopart 2A8, that question the necessity for the Bundeswehr to develop quickly a new tank, that France desesperably need.

[@AndreiKucharavy]

3:35. This actually goes deeper than that. The vast majority of armament engineers serve themselves in combat regiments years before they are even given an opportunity to become armament engineers, at a leutenant-level position and for at least 5 months. Meaning that not only the high brass at DGA are armament engineers, they had first-hand experience with whatever armament their predecessors designed and accepted to production 10 years prior. This not only adds to their actual understanding of how the weapons will be used and what is important, but also provides an additional motivation to not fuck up. Because if you do, you **will** end up with a fist in your face from a junior colleague who barely survived a shitty decision of yours.

[@RokeJulianLockhart.s13ouq]

Wow.

[@darthghengis]

Bullshit

[@lucaj8131]

Well it does fuck up from time to time, I can think of the Rafale pilots that have been asking for a more powerful engine than the M88 for years because they struggle in their exercises when maneuvering at higher altitudes, and they know for a fact that it's been years since the manufacturer (Safran) has developed more powerful engines fit for rafales. But the request has simply been brushed of by the DGA as a simple pilot's caprice.

[@shuaige3360]

Thanks for the message, very interesting, and great way to work.

[@AndreiKucharavy]

​@@lucaj8131 Yeah, I would bet this has more to do with budget than anything else. French armed forces keep reducing the volume of orders every year due to budget cuts (people have been screaming that 200 operational tanks is not sufficient for at least a decade, to no avail). Jet engine refit is not a joke - you basically need to re-validate the entire platform because you changed the emissions signature, stress on the frame, .... Realistically, that's an improvement that's probably planned for the iteration, but the chances that there is a refit as we are switching to increasingly integrated and standoff air combat role are slim, and a multi-billion upgrade package is likely to never get prioritized.

[@tomriley5790]

Honestly you have to admire the French for preserving their indigenous industrial capacity, loosing it or purchasing other countries weapons does make you dependent on the supplier and it's always possible they'll choose to stab you in the back when it's inconvenient.

[@fairybeliever4479]

Australian submarine deal…

[@parodyclip36]

​@@fairybeliever4479If only it was not that. The US is actively trying to screw the French in every arms deal happening

[@edwxx20001]

it has major drawbacks, cost being the biggest. The French do not produce anywhere near the US or have anywhere near the budgets, this means small production runs of high-quality high-cost armaments. French have had and will likely continue to promote an indigenous market for all things French, not just arms. The stab in the back thing is a big spit in the face of the Americans, after all France and America have long been allies and have never fought a war on opposing sides since the French Indian war, before American independence.

[@Jugement]

​@@edwxx20001 The money is spent on French businesses and so its a win for us. More than paying foreign goods cheaper. We also made a profit on numerous orders, we sell a ton of optics and radars _(since thanks to our continuous investement we currently lead in a few niches in that field)_ to even the US or RU before the war and did buy certain pieces from the US as well Literally the world 2rd weapon exporter with 30b in 2022, which sized to our military spending is 50%, when the us sold 150b and spent 750b aka 20%, so dont worry we do break even from producing our own shit Thats as much as a "spit to the face" of the US as the US America first policy is a spit to the face of all european nations. Nothing personal, just business. Dont act silly mate

[@justepourlacheruncom8393]

@@edwxx20001 Stab in the back is a big word. More realistically it's just keeping sovereignty. When you rely on someone, you are accountable and when you do something that doesn’t align with their interest (which is always the case if you are not entirely submissive) they will naturally use that string and sour that sours the relationship. Turkey is a good example of military reliance gone wrong. That’s why I think mutual strategic autonomy is a keystone for long-term relationship. Allies are not vassals.

[@rbesfe]

100 french people died each time Chris said "Le-Clerk"

[@justepourlacheruncom8393]

Nah it's barely noticeable with Chris US accent.

[@shaneomax2296]

Yep.. Le Clair for the non French speakers.

[@ljubastojanovic608]

Honestly, every Frernch word used in English is twisted and demolished, starting from "revolution" eg. So I think that French people is immune of English pronouncing for decades ago... Good for them.

[@DiviAugusti]

Cappy is special needs when it comes to pronunciation.

[@clamum9648]

I mean, he's an English speaker, he'll probably pronounce it in... English.

[@jimpark8379]

I think the French did an incredible job on the LeClerc and the French military doctrine matches up with Korean military doctrine, which was applied to the K2. When the K2 was in the initial stages of development, the generals were asked, what's the #1 thing required for a modern tank? And the general's answer was "networking," not firepower or armor. Because it's necessary to combine info from satellites, other tanks and other data sources to get a complete picture of the battlefield, download GPS coordinates of targets, and hit with 100% accuracy. I also agree with the French and Korean military in that armor is overrated. Modern radar can lock on the GPS coordinates of any tank once it fires, so it's necessary to fire and move, no amount of armor is enough to protect from counterfire of 120 mm tank shells or 155 mm howitzer rounds fired with GPS guidance. There's a reason why the French are the world's #2 in weapon sales. They're smart as hell, they design their weapons with a coherent, effective military doctrine in mind, and they're good quality weapons. It's a winning formula.

[@phunkracy]

are you for real saying artillery radars are used to counter tanks? 😆

[@willyvereb]

@@phunkracy Replace the "radar" word with fire control systems and it's probably what the person above you meant. In Ukraine apparently you optimistically have 5 minutes before artillery hits you when drone and GPS spotting is about. 40 seconds at worst if it's about counter battery fire in artillery duels.

[@mallow1741]

Honestly south-korean military is highly underated in my opinion. One of the rare western nation trying to regain as much sovereignty as possible from pour common invasive ally

[@Antares-rt5ub]

And who is #1?

[@phunkracy]

@@willyvereb there is no such thing as a counter battery FCS. The guy is just confused.

[@Miamcoline]

Super interesting. So few people actually cover modern French-made weapons when there are so many out there. I'm French and I know so little about the performance of our kit. Love this channel. I get my information from a lot of great place who really do good research and contextualisation but this one is really enjoyable as well cause you manage to get in great context and analysis while keeping things light and actually fun, but not superficial. Don't know how you manage but great job!

[@valfar2015]

France before the War in Ukraine was the 3rd expotator of weapons in the World so in général it is not as US ans UK would like it would be

[@Markty07]

France is under rated for weapons because of our shitty dirigeants

[@MGW27]

I dunno if the thumbnail saying 'moist' expensive was an accident or not, but it made me laugh.

[@skaldlouiscyphre2453]

WAT: Wet Ass Tank

[@marcusayala6933]

Tankussy

[@C.Y.123]

It's French. Of course it's wet and smelly

[@EatMyShortsAU]

It ranks pretty high on the Moist Meter, Charlie would be proud.

[@myleswillis]

I call it the moist maker.

[@Jymvador]

Inside source said that Leclerc tank is the most expensive because it was introduced too late to the market. It was a bit more advanced that the other tanks at the time but most costumers already bought (or going to) tanks from other countries. This bad timing (and geopolitics, like USA umbrella) led to fewer tanks sold, so the price did not go down very much unlike the others. Vicious circle.

[@tomamuntean5948]

Yes abrams And leopard 2 where produces in the 80. 10 years before the leclerc

[@IStMl]

@@tomamuntean5948 but theyre also worse

[@RoulicisThe]

@@IStMl Yes, but for countries that already acquired battle tanks there was no real need to purchase any Leclerc. They already had what they needed

[@inwedavid6919]

You forgot the data link, when a leclerc see an enemy, it send in real time the info to the artillery, it has also many captops for NBC, it does chimical analysis, the autoloader allow to reload in the moves at hight speed what Ambrams or leo2 can't.

[@MrAerodynamite]

Lmao what king of troll your are

[@Lars.171]

its called Battle Management System and can be found in newer Leopard 2 and Abrams variants too

[@DC2022]

@@MrAerodynamite what troll? The datalink? It exists. The fact that a leopard/abrams won't be able to load in the same conditions that a Leclerc does? That's true. Try to manipulate a 25kg and 1m long ammunition and feed it in the gun chamber while the tank is bouncing over bumps at over 30mph. This won't be a fun experience and good luck to reliably feed the gun every 6s 😏

[@inwedavid6919]

@@Lars.171 Yes 30 years after....

[@inwedavid6919]

@@MrAerodynamite Just for a post? The reality is here leclerc is a 4th gen tank like the K1 while leo 2 and m1 or Challenger are still old tanks from the 1980 area just upgraded, just heavier and heavier but based on the old MBT70 tech.

[@charlesrcca8879]

Because compared to the Abrams, or German Leos, the Leclerc was produced 10 to 15 years later. Consequences: only a few export contracts not won beforehand by both leos and abrams. Then the technologies used such as the autoloader, are 10 to 15 years more advanced thus more expansive.

[@davidmarchand384]

Great and fair report. The only capability that you are missing which is probably critical and unique in active combat to the Leclerc it's its ability to fire multiple times without loosing sight of its target. This is becaus it's using an autoloader and the canon does not need to be lifted up or down to eject and reengage a new ammo. Therefore it makes it much more efficient against moving targets and especially shooting at the same one in sequence to destroy it. Else than that it's a great summary that you have done and in my view its biggest advantage comes from the autoloader and therefore 3 personnel needed to operate it vs 4 in almost all western tanks. It's biggest "disadvantage" even though the French army says it's been fixed is its availability for combat and eventually light weight which means that passive armor might still be a weakness of this tank compared to other Western tanks especially.

[@majormoolah5056]

The latest French APCs have networked AI that activates the active protection system when the unit is under attack. Great stuff. Their recon vehicles have missiles with 2 kilometer range they can fire without even seeing the target. You see the wheeled French vehicles and think they are rinky-dink but there is a lot more going on there.

[@plsdonttttt]

uuuh my ai doesnt even know the date

[@MrDibara]

​@@plsdonttttt*We, the populace, never get the really good stuff.*

[@flycrack7686]

unless we see it on the battlefield in ukraine its all blah blah

[@khaldrago911]

Now the !rench AI will surrender automatically without the french having to even put their hands up!

[@kittytrail]

​@@flycrack7686 we frenchies have nothing to do in this corrupt failed state still known as "Ukraine" but, hopefully, not for mch longer. we have the same traitors in government and in the top ranks of our armed forces though and those will drag us in a useless fight against Russia while they import millions of new replacement "french" citizens... 😑

[@jacklatourette3076]

Love the growth of content on this channel. Crushing it Task & Purpose!!!

[@NorthernNorthdude91749]

The French style of autoloader is a great design. Like it or not, the updates made to autoloader tech have made manual loading obsolete. I'm confident the Abrams-X or whatever new MBT the US adopts will have an autoloader. There's literally no valid reason to insist on a crew member to load the gun in the 21st century.

[@wmtford4043]

How about having a fourth pair of hands to do basic field maintenance on the tank? That's nothing to sneeze at. What will finally remove the loader from Western tanks will be the weight of the ammo. The 130mm round in the prototype KF-51 Panther weighs 70 lbs.

[@NorthernNorthdude91749]

@@wmtford4043 You can have a 4th person without sticking with the objectively outdated notion of using them as a loader.

[@Jugement]

Abram X is confirmed to have an autoloader

[@Jugement]

@@wmtford4043 How about no ? No autoloader means lower combat capacity _(the gun is stabilized but i can guarantee you the hulk isnt at 30+ MPH, so have fun reloading as fast, aka one round every 10s)_ That and the need for more inside space to accomodate for a 4th crew member, which in turn means more total armor volume required, hence weight, which forces a compromise on mobility A French style autoloader is objectively the best choice, heck even the US ended up backtracking

[@ikkitopbiere7689]

@@wmtford4043 le prochain char français sera en 140 mm avec son canon ascalon de nexter

[@mucpougaming6092]

i think its awesome how quickly cappy has gone from "funny infantry guy who makes jokes about your platoon's knife guy and the 2nd lt getting lost, to a genuine and (attempting to be) unbiased military journalist

[@dragonslayer2107]

Interesting design. Given the weight of most main battle tanks, I can see armies focusing less on them and more on lighter, more mobile platforms that they can support the tanks with like the Stryker platform. So the fact that they only have 200 of them might not be such an issue if they have a vehicle that can complement them well.

[@dark7element]

Specialized tank-killing munitions have gotten too good. There's no point in giving your tank the ability to resist cannon shells since it's realistically never going to fight another tank, and even if it does, depleted uranium makes a mockery of any armor light enough to be practical. And there's no point giving it fancy composite armor plates to resist ATGMs when it's just going to get murdered by top-attack munitions. The future is small, cheap(er), lightweight tanks with high maneuverability and lots of electronic warfare capability.

[@clnetrooper]

Still not enough. It wouldn't hurt to have a bit more but since production cost is a bit too high that will have to do.

[@dragonslayer2107]

@@dark7element That kind of depends on how well it is being supported. If it is supported by vehicles that can shoot down or deal with potential threats to it before it gets close enough to harm it then becomes less of an issue. In this situation the "tank" would be the big threat as it carries the heavy weaponry while other vehicles support it and move in a protective formation around it. Think of navy battle groups and how they usually focus around a carrier with the other ships providing escort and protection for it.

[@dark7element]

@@dragonslayer2107 In that case, the "main battle tank" of the future might be more like an armored anti-aircraft vehicle with missiles that can also hit surface targets, than a conventional battle tank. I just don't see how having a big cannon will be worth it anymore. If you're gonna use a big cannon against the enemy you can park it well away from the frontline, everything has pin-point accuracy on any target that can be observed these days. Even tanks are getting taken out by direct hits from mortars in this war.

[@dragonslayer2107]

@@dark7element Probably. Big guns may we relegated to artillery in the future but remember that those smart weapons are expensive and harder to make than more traditional weapons. So, while the smart weapons may do more damage, they are not as easy to replace as the dumb weapons. As such, while smart weapons are good, it is always a good idea to have weapons that you can fall back on that can be more easily mass produced for times of prolonged conflict.

[@malcolmjcullen]

Frankly, I'm disappointed. I came here for the "Moist Expensive Tank", as promised in the thumbnail.

[@whatisahandle_69]

It started as a typo, ended as a meme

[@gasper5223]

Being named the Leclerc i expected it to be cheaper. Eleclerc has better prices than Lidl

[@Izanami-no-Mikoto]

Also I love how the Leclerc fairs in battle too

[@WhiskyCanuck]

It's French, so probably thanks to all that cream & butter.

[@momentarylapseofsanity3873]

I love how the stock image of the arrow still says "RED ARROW" 💀

[@Rob_F8F]

France designs and manufacturers theirnown weapons in order to maintain an independent defense industry.

[@boringstuff412]

This isn’t only expensive irl, it’s even more expensive In war thunder

[@xXArnOdu974Xx]

lmao

[@btchbgd8786]

It hurts that I can't disagree with this..

[@UDRealOtto]

Or you can say that the expensively price is real both in game and irl. So I have a title for her: "The Steel of Elegante".

[@maka6134]

I love that people are willing to risk treason for the game

[@dilanmukidisi4lanz986]

Broke an instant SL is gone beyond

[@romainlapie6362]

The main point you forget about the real reason of the rising cost compared to the scale of production for the Leclerc, come from the fact that it was designed to be the best tank in the world in the 1980's, and it was. Then came the collapse of the soviet Union and the command of 1200 were divided by 3, to get to ~400.

[@bikesfrench8524]

il est sortie plus tard des usine et les pays européens avait déjà acheté de léopard qui était vendu quelques années plus tôt

[@ronriedinger218]

fyi: The Leclerc tank was named in honor of Marshal Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque, a commander of the Free French Forces, who led the 2nd Armoured Division in World War II.

[@clouetjp769]

It is the name of the Marshal who liberated France and Paris in WW II after the landing in Provence on August 15, 1944.

[@lapinmalin8626]

@@clouetjp769 Leclerc était encore général à l'époque et il est passé par la Normandie c'est De Lattre de Tassigny qui a fait le débarquement en Provence d'ailleurs ils ne s'aimaient pas vraiment La devise de la division blindé de Leclerc c'est "toujours en avant" (il y a un chant militaire la dessus d'ailleurs) elle n'a reculé qu'une seule fois pour ensuite reprendre l'offensive elle allait même plus vite que les troupes Américaines les Français sont arrivé en premier au nid d'aigle ce que les Américains n'ont jamais voulu admettre

[@clouetjp769]

​@@lapinmalin8626 Oui bien sur, mea culpa, mais dans ma fougue de répondre à ses ignorants de l'histoire, j'ais confondu à ce moment de colère le Maréchal Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque, avec De Lattre de Tassigny, bonne journée à toi.

[@lzh4950]

Meanwhile I've seen F1 fans joke that the tank's 1st name is Charles

[@lostonearth7856]

You'd think you'd be able to tell the real turret roation speed without using classified documents

[@adhx7506]

Gaijin, the devs of War Thunder, dont care though. You can point it out all you want, as long as you dont have it on paper, they wont give a fuck and change nothing.

[@ItsAVolcano]

But they can't "prove" their point on an online forum.😂 The worst part is Gaijin has a policy to never change game stats based on leaked documents so it wouldn't help anyways.

[@heyhoe168]

@@ItsAVolcano At this point, players leak into WT forums for memes, I guess.

[@Warmaker01]

@@heyhoe168 It's for internet arguing points. It's amazing what people will do to win such things against someone you never met, will never see, and couldn't care less about who and where you are.

[@blahorgaslisk7763]

A lot of the time military equipment are fitted with limiters that are intended to mask the vehicles real capabilities. It also lower the wear and tear on equipment when grunts are let lose to use it. I know this has been used on fighter planes and some tanks. When looking at sources such as say Janes it sometimes says that the numbers are estimated, or in some cases that the numbers does not reflect full military power for fighter planes. For instance the Saab 35 Draken used to be listed as having a top speed of just above Mach 2. But that was with the limiter. True military power was never disclosed while the plane was still in service. Now I knew a pilot who flew J 29, J 35, and JA 37 'Viggen'. He talked about this limiter and what the full power capability was, but as I'm not a airplane fanatic I didn't bother to commit the exact numbers to memory. But it was interesting to learn about how much the fighter planes developed under these years. The J 29 was the first fighter plane with a swept wing design, the J 35 was a much more modern design, and the JA 37 was a very modern design for it's time. But looking back the J 29 was incredibly primitive compared to the JA 37. But something that they all had in common was that they tried to keep the true performance secret to give them a bit of an edge against any possible enemy.

[@kimkristensen2816]

Best looking of the western MBT and underrated

[@crymieze9003]

3:28, very accurate and relevant highlight. Indeed, almost all the engineers (who have a officer status ) in the "DGA" are graduated from the France's most prestigious engineering university, l'Ecole Polytechnique, which is also a military university (the students have 1 year of military traning and internship during their engineer curriculum but aren't really supposed to become real soldiers. Military Academies are more suitable)

[@bebert3611]

False Military engineers at DGA are around 10% of total number of engineers. And less than 30% of these military engineers are from Polytechnique, most are from ENSTA Bretagne.

[@murunbuchstanzangur]

The seeminglt unrelated expression, the red arrow, The deliberate mispelling. Your thumbnail game is on point, man...

[@ljubastojanovic608]

I watched on TV Front yesterday an Rusian expert on tanks, who had a chance to be in any Western tank, yes such times existed, ranking Leclerk above all others.

[@olivierfaber8478]

But in a war Leopard would still be his choice.Seen the interview too...

[@ljubastojanovic608]

@@olivierfaber8478 It is very hard to predict anything about war, and easy to compare technical caracteristics in stnad-by sittuation. French were having allways original and soffisticated technics, many people think that Citroen DS-19 and later DS-21 was superrior than any Mercedes of his class at the time, still they were buing Mercedes. Not to speak about NSU Ro-80, which in fact led NSU to bankrupcy. But seems to me that all West is sending their tanks to Ukraine to give a chance to Russian to examine weak spots and to establish right tactic aagainst, as they seems already made for Himmars missile system. I wanted only to say that I believe in the first oppinion of Russian expert, that Leclerk is technically better tank, and nobody knows the result in real war.

[@anastasiablack389]

@@ljubastojanovic608 дайте ссылку плиз

[@clouetjp769]

@@olivierfaber8478 What do you prefer if you are given the choice to go into battle in a tank, the Abraham or the Leclerc?, be honest, answer that to see.

[@tikou8377]

@@clouetjp769 en 2035 dans aucun tank!

[@seanhaarhoff3726]

I think it's one of the better looking tanks out there.

[@valerydx5682]

Thank you for the objective and unbiased analysis! FR

[@laernulienlaernulienlaernu8953]

It's such a shame those Goat guns don't fire tiny little rounds or at least make them into cap guns, I loved cap guns when I was a kid, hey I still do.

[@BruceDeemer-wr4cw]

Thanks! Intelligent and informative, well presented.

[@KingOfNaples]

France is the only Western country independent from the US militarily in all ways. We conduct operations alone, without needing any help or permission.

[@ryanupchurch9683]

God it’s goin to be annoying to bail y’all out for the 3rd time

[@SkeletonXin]

@@ryanupchurch9683 First time didn't really count you guys arrived when the war was pretty much won, although the help is still appreciated.

[@KingOfNaples]

@@ryanupchurch9683 As skeleton correctly said: first time didn't count. Second time? We really DIDN'T want or need the U.S--- the Germans let us retain semi-autonomy and were treating all who collaborated well. Look at the state of my beloved France now!!! More Arabs and Africans than French in the capital and most other urban areas now!!!! We would have done much better with German's National Socialism than America's capitalism. Did you know that US soldiers raped many tens of thousands of French women while the Germans less than 500?? My whole family apart from grandpa who was too young to fight at the time, all fought in the French resistance and died in concentration camps as a result; a sacrifice which proved futile seeing where France has gone now, how all the bodies of our ancestors reunited with the soil prematurely from defending the Patrie (motherland) was in vain. Churches set in fire , defiled, and looted every day while more and more mosques are built.

[@MrSebfrench76]

That's not right. We rely on our allies for transportation of huge loads.

[@andremontmartin7207]

And that is called sovereignty. Thank you to General de Gaulle for having always promoted it: in terms of military equipment, planes (Rafale), nuclear electricity, etc. This sovereignty that many allied countries of the USA no longer have, totally subservient to the pressures and orders of the Americans for their defense.

[@piotrd.4850]

Leclerc has AMAZING engine. Same power and momentum in VASTLY smaller package than Leopard 2.

[@dnocturn84]

Where do you get that from? When I look at the power pack of the Leopard 2 and compare it with the full-size power pack of the Leclerc, than I get the result, that they are almost identical in size.

[@philv3941]

HAD cause the Hyperbar Engine is not built anymore

[@Yue2000thegamer]

@@dnocturn84 Hyperbar engine is the best because you have the 1500hp when you press the pedal instead of others tanks whitch is gradually

[@dnocturn84]

@@Yue2000thegamer Interesting and fine for me and I guess this is indeed totally awesome, but how is this related to the original comment or my reply to it? It was solely about the SIZE of the engines, not about any other feature.

[@ptranchand52]

@@dnocturn84just compare the hull length of the 2 tanks, the leclerc is smaller by a solid 1m compared to Leo 2, the weights saved is approximately 4T, and I’m not counting the hydropneumatic suspension of Leclerc much lighter than torsion bar of the Leo 2.

[@thenegociater3387]

The French make some excellent weapons.

[@obelic71]

French enginering is always on the magical /divine level or grand MERDE. It seems there is nothing in between.

[@squeletondread5080]

@@obelic71 exactly, so as french tactics and way of being... us french take great pride in never being average but rather shit or Grandiose XD

[@Jugement]

@@obelic71 When it comes to weapons we're pretty good at it tho. We secured 30b of export contracts in 2022, which had us 2nd to the US only with a fifth of their sales, despite our much smaller economy

[@kerdart351]

@@obelic71 Dude are you French ? You summarized our products and way of life perfectly. French tank history is a perfect example of this balance lmao.

[@Salamandra40k]

Ngl, the reason I like the leclerc is because of how it looks. It just looks mean, meaner than the abrams or the leo or any T-series tank. Honestly LOOKS like a future tank come to life from a concept artist's drawing moreso than a real tank.

[@tikou8377]

tien encore plus méchant Leclerc 140 T4

[@bonkyz1430]

​​@@tikou8377quoi ? tu veux parler du Leclerc TERMINATEUR ?

[@brunodn9702]

First, Pardon my English. I'm French after all 😁😇. The story is a little bit more complicated. By the way, two events occured. First, the original goal to get a fleet of 1.400/1.500 (sometimes, 1.600 claimed) Leclerc has been reduced to 650 in 1993, then 406. This program is born during the 80's and the cold war. With a "strong" army based on draft and highly educated soldiers coming from universities doing their military duty during one year. A very sophisticated weapon for people with high IQ average. At the end of the cold war, France reduced dramatically the "effort of war" and finally suppressed the conscription. At the same moment, as France reduced the money for military, GIAT was reorganised and people in factories passed from 30.000 workers to ... 2,500 ! I can testify (I was a consultant for DGA at these times) it was a BIG MESS. At exactly the same moment the Leclerc begun to be produced. The Leclerc production has been an industrial disaster and only the last batches of this tank are conform. So. Over the 406 French MBT produced fro the French Army, only the half is available. Note that the export version for the Emirates has been very trimed. French like their customers. And they liked them with ... a German engine... The French engine is... Very very sophiticated. Too sophisticated. It's nice to compete in Formula One. Not for going at war. The Leclerc is theoritically a very good machine. Last batches are conform. But the final price of a single machine passed from €8 to €15 millions to be conform to the original target due mainly to the problems I exposed above.

[@vincentminier2146]

Peux tu parler français stp ? je n'ai pas compris ... 😂🤭

[@brunodn9702]

@@vincentminier2146 je fais ce que je peux pour être compris. 15 à priori, ont compris.

[@vincentminier2146]

@@brunodn9702 sarcasme! C'est typique de chez nous à priori...

[@CaesarHowitzer]

Very good video. Thanks! And thank you to all the positive comments on the french military industrial complex. Hello from Paris🇨🇵✌️

[@GGJunHyo]

The quoted price of the Leclerc Tank is quite high because the fine print includes the cost of the development program and infrastructure rather than just the manufacturing cost as of 2001. With the original order of 420 Units, its original unit cost was 5 million Euros which went down to 8 million Euros.

[@AuxenceF]

that's not going down

[@Freedmoon44]

@@AuxenceF its going down in reverse dont worry

[@janchovanec8624]

Hey Chris, Good content. One correction about the armor values you've stated. AMX 30 has only 80mm thick plates of armor, yes, but the values of M48 you've stated are effective values due to slope, not the thickness itself. M48's frontal armour was around 100-180mm depending of specific plate and place, which translates to more effective armor due to said slope and angles. Neither tank had sufficient amount of protection against any of the Soviet tanks, or ATGM's unless we are talking about 3km+ sniping duels (not that shape charged munition is not affected by range due to it's penetration values stemming from a chemical reaction, rather than kinetic energy).

[@marc9080]

Demande aux Irakiens et leur T72 détruit par nos chars si le blindage Soviètique est meilleur??

[@La_baguette_francaise]

il a pas dit ça il a dit que 180mm de protection ou 80mm , dans touts les cas ça n'arretera pas un obus 120mm flèche ou un lance missile antichar@@marc9080

[@alvinhang8721]

It's fair to say most of NATO countries don't have enough tanks reserve to fight in a costly and highly intensive war, not just France.

[@dupondetdupont8]

with the war in Ukraine, nobody has aparantly

[@caesarsalad1170]

@@dupondetdupont8 Relying too much on the u.s.

[@dupondetdupont8]

@@caesarsalad1170 For the offensive capacity yes you are right. But for defense, nukes should be enought.

[@flamma_larnaque]

It's fair to say that the concept of tank has stop to be useful in the late 1944.

[@kloic9334]

@@flamma_larnaque and yet it is still succesfully used since then... the tank is not dead.

[@KaoticReach1999]

Any manufacturer that makes something iconic as the FAMAS F1 earned such a money pit!!

[@ayuro3661]

M1 Abrams unitary cost is at 12M USD, so around 11M Euros. Leclerc unitary cost is around 8M Euros........ So that mean, beside being better than all his counterpart (from the same generation of course, we must not forget that it's a Grandpa), he's less expensive than a M1

[@dontcare5319]

Yeah the title is a lie

[@manuwilson4695]

Always good to hear information from ex military personnel. 👍

[@johndoe-cd9vt]

That tank has won the last contest between the tanks of "the most powerful nations"

[@lemangeur2poulet248]

Challenger 2 won the NATO tanks competition, Leclerc didn't

[@johndoe-cd9vt]

@@lemangeur2poulet248 100% wrong, that's the Leclerc who won, stop making your story ... Also the Leclerc, even if France had stoped to produce it is the most advanced Tank in the west. You can easily find this info on the net if you need.

[@grim1427]

Man, this is such good analysis. Its like you have a whole team helping to produce this stuff.

[@RichardCranium321]

lol.... guess you missed the thumbnail

[@aquabonnac9527]

Bravo aux ingénieurs français ! Vive la France 🇫🇷

[@WildWest357]

With a thumbnail that good, how could i not watch the video?

[@mikedittsche]

The Rheinmetall 120mm smoothbore gun also comes in the L/55 variation which is standard on all Leopard 2 tanks from the A6 variant onwards, introduced in 2001.

[@RosehipLovingTea]

I love leclerc design, it's interesting

[@mr._nighthawk7215]

You should also look into the Scorpion program and in feptht intk their new Jaguar IFV and Gryphon armored personnel carrier. You might also notice that the way these work is pretty interesting

[@cc-dtv]

Your goat gun ad is officially the first ad i've ever intentionally watched on youtube

[@Native_love]

Got two Goat guns for Father's day a few years ago. They are still proudly on my mantle!

[@milojinvente7746]

Day 7 of begging Chris to cover more french stuff ( VBCI, Griffon, Jaguar, , Akeron MP...) I can cross the Lerclerc off the list but i'll keep going !

[@Dako2zer]

VIVE LA FRANCE !!!!🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷

[@rokuth]

The newer Rheinmetall 120mm gun found on the Leopard 2A7 is a 55cal gun. This will also be used on the Challenger 3 as well. The Korean Black Panther uses a autoloader as well, with a 120mm 55Cal gun that was "inspired" by the Rheinmetall gun.

[@MartinKuras]

The Leopard 2A6 has the L/55 as well as some Leo 2A5 versions.

[@BFOP15]

Still the vast majority of existing Leo2 are with a 120mm L44 gun. And K2 Blackpanther architecture is clearly copied from the Leclerc with an autoloader that works the same and and reserve ammo located at the front right side. ( Left side in the Leopard2) Clearly the Leclerc was the model for the K2 and it shares nearly nothing with the Leopard 2.

[@rokuth]

@@BFOP15 : Maybe the power pack? The early K2 models were having reliability issues with their Korean (Hyundai?) power packs, and had to source them from Germany. I think they are from the same company that supplies the Leo2.

[@Itachi951000]

No the Korean autoloader was inspired by the Leclerc. South Korea's ADD developed the K2's autoloader system based on data obtained on the Leclerc autoloader's at a SATORY event. They copied (read stole) a patented design lmao.

[@vizender]

@@rokuthfrench exported leclercs also use German power packs so….

[@ph11p3540]

This is by far, the strangest of the worlds main battle tanks. Even the Japanese Type 10 and Korean Black Panther MBTs don't touch this tank for extreme levels of complexity and oddball engineering

[@valeredumont5018]

this passive vs active protection is also used in aircraft, for exemple the Rafale isnt fully stealth but with great EW capacity witch alow a better adaptabiliy to new technologies

[@youcefzaouali5636]

Impressive specs. French know how to build a tank! Only one tank damaged in Yemen. I wonder if a javelin missile could destroy this tank.

[@rac4687]

Its designed to pen the top of the turret on the engine bed so pretty much any tank does get fucked up by a javelin.

[@Jugement]

@@rac4687 Without active protection systems yes, which is why modern tanks do have these. Flares to mess up with heat signature and the likes The damage will also not be as unsustainable compared to old soviet designs. The hulk might be breached and the crew hurt, but the tank wont be cooked up from the inside by its own ammunition detonating

[@youcefzaouali5636]

@@rac4687 lol elegant way to say it.

[@goprev9715]

A proper javelin hit would definitely destroy a Leclerc or at least rend it inoperative, that is not to say the tank is bad nor that the Javelin is unstoppable but rather that if it makes contact it does what it's supposed to do. That is however what the french designers or the people who make the decisions understood apparently a bit earlier than others, there's no effective passive way to protect yourself fully from contemporary anti-tank weapons, they are just too effective at what they do to withstand them without heavily compromising other aspects of the tank's performance, so you need to either destroy them (active defense system), make them miss (mobility but also active defense systems) or limit their effectiveness by just maneuvering too swiftly for the enemy to properly deploy them, the last being a bit of a whack a mole strategy, if you make high mobility your main concern in both your organization, strategy and material, by the time the enemy is alerted to your presence somewhere and start deploying fitting weapons to contest you, you aren't there anymore, so those weapons are effectively rendered useless, since there's just no targets for them to hit. Of course this strategy isn't supposed to hard counter these systems, ambushes and correct movement predictions by the enemy are an occurrence that will happen, but it will definitely make them quite a bit less effective on the perspective of the conflict at large it will also force them on the back foot, in the sense they react to you and not the opposite, which is a considerable offensive advantage. Or you force them to dilute their armament along the front lines which leaves them open to concentrated spearhead type attacks. I get the sense that the Leclerc was built with that general idea in mind. Get in fast, destroy objective faster, get out even faster.

[@mmichel2436]

All tanks can be destroyed. Leclerc, Leopard, Abrams. All !

[@grim1427]

"As you know more bigger and more expensive means more betterer." I love it!

[@jakubblaha4904]

I like how all of NATO went in the 70s "We got scared of their new hyped up tank/plane and went bit overboard"...resulting in Leopards, Abrams, Leclercs, F15s which, even after 50years, humiliate every follow up superweapon Russia came up with, while only getting relatively small upgrades (instead of new designs or significant redesigns).

[@Otterdisappointment]

The modern French Army really is just the US Army on a tight budget and I love it 🇫🇷🇪🇺

[@etuanno]

I've only worked with their NBC troops in a joint exercise as a Swiss NBC decontamination soldier. Long story short, they were unmotivated, lazy asses. Meanwhile us conscript soldiers, we were motivated and knew what we were doing. For what they're paid, they weren't worth the money they were getting. I expected more of professional soldiers. I don't know their style of leadership in the NBC troops, but ours is excellent with the NCOs pretty much only supervising while we soldiers do the rest of the thinking. Which isn't hard because over half are university students.

[@rolletroll2338]

​@@etuanno ok and?

[@baozenfhei9076]

@@etuanno Un suisse qui insulte les français comme c'est original...

[@johnwotek3816]

The whole specificity of the US militaryis that it has a massive budget... the whole specificity if the entire french military is that it is expected to perform as well as the US with a soft caramel and a paperclip dating back from the Franco-Prussian war. No, seriously, if you thought the marines were the poster boy for hand me down equipement, you haven't looked at the french army. They litteraly sent dudes in Afghanistan with WW1 periscope. I'm pretty sure there is somewhere a full stock of MAT-49 that was already outdated 40 years ago but is still kept because "it can be usefull".

[@etuanno]

@@baozenfhei9076 Toujours les mêmes choses. ;) Pourtant, si c'est ton travail, on peut s'attendre à ce que tu le fais bien et avec motivation.

[@easonyeung2779]

"MOIST EXPENSIVE" That was probably a typo, but knowing the proclivities of the Frenchman, it'll probably end up moist anyway.

[@shortlivedglory3314]

Frogs like everything kept moist.

[@easonyeung2779]

@@shortlivedglory3314 That is true.

[@kerdart351]

As a French, just lmao

[@gandigooglegandigoogle7202]

The Leclerc is without any doubt the best tank ever....combat proven, never defeated, never destroyed.

[@dobbylollol]

Challanger 2 > Leclerc

[@gandigooglegandigoogle7202]

@@dobbylollol ..... the main thing is to believe in it.

[@Theo_Aubusson]

This doesn't make any sense. The Leclerc barely even fought. As even if this was a real argument but whatever. The Leclerc has plenty of obsolete systems and has barely been upgraded during its life cycle. The vehicle is honestly just in a sad state rn. It's not a bad tank. But definitely not good by todays standard in protection and detection. The XLR will help with better com systems and with a new RCWS but it's pretty much the cheapest upgrade to keepit somewhat relevant that could have been made

[@gandigooglegandigoogle7202]

@@Theo_Aubusson ....I remind you that the Leclerc tank has never been destroyed in war and no crew has died to date, despite a mass deployment in Yemen for example or in Lebanon .... no other tank that has known the battlefield many times can boast of it today .....

[@Theo_Aubusson]

@gandigooglegandigoogle7202 it was mostly deployed in peace keeping operations and the only place it did fought was Yemen. Where one pilot did die and with the tank commander injured after an ATGM. Also Yemen isn't as high intensity as Syria, Ukraine or Irak where other tanks did see combat. So even tho the tank wasn't destroyed it's armor got defeated several times in Yemen by this ATGM and other hits. Also the ATGM is only known to have hit a Leclerc. Other reported damages were by HMG, mines/IED or RPGs. So in conclusion you can't really say it has "known the battlefield many times" has it really fought during one and we don't know the number of deployed Leclerc. Nor that it was undefeated has it clearly was by this ATGM. To me even tho i don't think the Abrams is the best tank or whatever, i think has a far more impressive and successful active operation carrier even tho it got destroyed several times. Also you need to compound that it was poorly used many times even by the US but still performed pretty well. For the Leo 2 it's a harder topic but to me i has been deployed far to few times with incomplete data on the battle they fought and i would argue it's the same for the Leclerc that there combat experience don't gave any meaningful insights

[@thomasl9172]

Merci de saluer la qualité de l’industrie militaire française 🙏🏼

[@sargonassarg4356]

With the exception of the War Thunder footage, were the turnable animations of the Leclerc done in-house? They are a nice touch.

[@lionofjudah61967]

An incredibly impressive tank!

[@hyokkim7726]

French are very under-rated.

[@andremontmartin7207]

Exact. And unfortunately

[@hyokkim7726]

@@andremontmartin7207 Well, ironically, they are very highly regarded in Africa. Btw. The MBT ROK K2 was most heavily influenced by is LeClerc. ROK was at one time interested in Merkava, but found it to be too top heavy, and unstable in high speed, and sudden turns; ROK is mostly very hilly, steep, gravel country road, in off-road, icy and snowy in winter, muddy, slippery during monsoon season. Two aspects of LeClerc ROK was heavily influenced was autoloaders, (essential for MUM-T), and fire control system for the armored units to minimize redundant targeting, akin to 'Platoon Firing System'. Redundant targeting minimization is of a questionable value in Korean peninsula, but in Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, Central Regions of China, would be most efficient. French had come up with some really useful, innovative, unique systems, not really appreciated even among hardcore militaria fans, such as, Brandt Mle CM60A1, breech loading, traversable mortar. The one French armored car that I am most impressed with is Panhard EBR, packed with so many useful, unique, and innovative features. The use of H12 air cooled engine, placed under the floor was brilliant; it lowers COG, improving maneuverability, air is naturally cooled by shading from the sun, making the air cooled engine, both more reliable, and improving the performance, also serving as extra protection from the landmines for the crew. This also allows the twin driver arrangement; armored cars cannot turn as efficiently as MBTs, by using twin drivers, front and rear allows the armored car to retreat a lot faster than otherwise, while still firing at the enemy. Another is Rafaelle, even though it's only 4th gen, it can still be more than a match for F-35 depending on situation. On paper, F-35 looks superior, since it is less visible than Rafael at distance, but Rafale has Meteor, far longer range missile than AMRAAM carried by F-35. Just like many amateurs had thought that T-34 was operationally superior to Panzer III and IV, due to superior armor, and longer range gun; forgetting Panzers had superior optics, allowing them to see T-34s before T-34s could see Panzers. So yes, in theory, F-35s can see Rafaele before Rafael can see F-35, but Rafael can fire meteor at far longer distance than F-35 can fire AMRAAM; meaning even if F-35 sees Rafael first, they cannot necessarily take advantage of that. They to had to get to Rafael close enough before firing AMRAAM, but before F-35 can get that close, Rafael could see F-35, and launch Meteor before F-35 gets close enough to fire AMRAAM! Why ROK KF-21 intends it to be compatible with Meteor. One big reason why UAE bought Rafael was its capability to use Meteor, unlike F-35s. Of course, U.S. temporarily was not willing to sell F-35 to UAE. F-35 stealth capability is over-rated, when it comes to durability, robustness, and cost effectiveness. They are very expensive to maintain; why ROK has decided to go for hard stealth coating, instead of F-35's soft stealth coating. Plus the MAT subguns from the colonials wars during the Cold war; many believe it is the most under-rated, and the most cost-effective SMG of the Cold War, not HKs. Just like Manhurin revolvers, the most cost effective, accurate, robust, durable, reliable, revolver ever made, not Colt Python, not Korth. Again, very under-rated.

[@mkultra3679]

The Rheinmetall RH 120 with L55 is actually more common by now than the L44 gun...

[@hansmeyer7225]

Not true

[@Lars.171]

On Leopard tanks? Yes. But all M1A1 and M1A2 Abrams use the L44 with DU ammunition

[@mkultra3679]

@@Lars.171 you got me, I forgot the Abrams still has the smaller gun...

[@Տիգրան-ժ1է]

@@mkultra3679 And that's a problem

[@alexseguin5245]

I know Cappy is not particularly interested in correct pronunciations, but for those who do, it is prononced "Leh - kl - air". The last c is silent. Kinda like the French dessert.

[@clouetjp769]

on the other hand G.I.A.T. is pronounced with the T, since it is an acronym.

[@JustinPlaysTV]

Ya know I would have given you guys permission to use my Leclerc footage if ya asked o.o :(

[@nolongerblocked6210]

@14:26 "..with all the intellect and finesse you'd expect from a couple of lower enlisted bros.." I luv Cappy's self-deprecating humor!!

[@RollClassic]

I'unno man. Saying the AMX-30 only has 80mm of armor while the Patton has "240mm of armor" is really disingenuous. Not only does the m47 weigh barely more than the AMX-30, the 240mm of armor is the thickest part of the armor. The hull is actually only 100mm thick. Barely thicker than the AMX-30 and shown by the fact it only weighs 8 tons more in total while being larger. They also have about equal power to weight ratios.

[@istoppedcaring6209]

at this point warthunder is just a russian government tool to get access to secret weopons quallifications

[@ebm9231]

Most expansive because 1) few were built and 2) it was designed to be extremely sophisticated.

[@flycrack7686]

" sophisticated" blablah

[@Jugement]

@@flycrack7686 Average "mad but cant come up with a counter argument" mf

[@jayvhoncalma3458]

​@@Jugement you should be the top reply not the crackhead above you

[@dupondetdupont8]

everything french does is expensive for a good reason : food, wine, parfum, tank...

[@MatteonixITA]

This would technically apply to Tanks such as the C1 Ariete and Type 10, but it doesn't which is oddly enough.

[@wesleywheeler7891]

When I think of 'Most Expensive' I don't think of something French made. That's not a dig at the French. Usually they stick to making things pretty cost effective like the Rafale.

[@pashapasovski5860]

It's 100 million per. Cost effective doesn't come to mind!

[@genzalarboa3110]

@@pashapasovski5860 the rafale costs between 63 million (rafale C), 73 million (rafale B) and 78 million (rafale M), the cost of 100 million per plane was used by a youtube channel which simply divided the purchase price by the number of aircraft forgetting (but is it really an oversight?) that the contract also included missile stocks and aircraft maintenance for 10 years

[@pashapasovski5860]

@genzalarboa3110 India could have had its own production of cheaper and better fighters, if it stayed the course!

[@genzalarboa3110]

@@pashapasovski5860 India has its own production of fighters with the HAL Tejas even if it still has a lot of foreign elements (French-British missiles, US engines, etc.), it remains globally inferior to the latest versions of the most modern aircraft which remains a great achievement since it is their first jet fighter

[@mmichel2436]

If you compare to the F35 program, it's cheap. 😅

[@davidberger9488]

3 Billion Tank Dollar Deal? holy smokes... what a crazy time to be alive

[@michaelman957]

"Just in Time" Logistics tends to fall apart the second the war heats up.

[@PerfectTangent]

AMX-30 was contemporary with the M-60.

[@themaskedarabrussian]

It used to be the most expensive. However, since it is not in the production now, it is hard to say what is the current price of it. Thanks Cappy.

[@ejmproductions8198]

I don't know why more European countries don't produce more weapons themselves -it cost more but the money is circulated back into the economy and you retain skills

[@kyllianfr49]

I think it's certainly going to help them financially, but in a war where the United States applies, if they had their own tank, they wouldn't be able to have stock to repair their destroyed vehicle.

[@GORANJOVIC631]

Because you need to be able to produce them. Tech wise in Europe not a lot of country can withstand with the tech level of the US, so they buy US product. France is one of the rare country to be able to stay on top in every military sector.

[@tikou8377]

@@GORANJOVIC631 il faut dire que depuis 2023 on est 2ᵉ exportateur d'arme au monde devant la Russie donc ouais, on se débrouille.

[@vincentgras8415]

Leclerc named TROMPE LA MORT in your game, It's funny that i already saw one called like that, when I was still in the army.

[@J.A.Smith2397]

Once again your one of my news sources cappy,keep it tight. Tks n keep it up

[@TheDoctorFromArknights]

*_"Moist Expensive Tank"_* damn didn't realise Charlie had a contract with the french military to design and produce a tank lmfao

[@gagounet83]

The difference in philosophy comes from our different experience of war. We were traumatized by the blitzkrieg of 1940 and we fight a lot of expeditionary wars. The other allies keep in mind the end of the ww2 with the defensive battles of the webrmacht with its heavy tanks

[@harrisonnightingale6600]

Fire of a French round at the like and subscribe button. I'm assuming you mean a baguette round 😂

[@ShamWerks]

Came to the comment section expecting french bashing and jokes about reverse gears on tanks... But none of that. Do not think I'm disappointed, all the contrary, looks like sometimes the internet can be a nice place. Thank you everyone! 🙏

[@col.waltervonschonkopf69]

00:10 Would it even be a French tank if intrigue and bribery were not involved? 😂

[@leneanderthalien]

200 Leclerc are combat ready , +~200 are stored, but all of them are from the first batch, never modernized and mostly use as spare parts source...

[@WarriusZ3r0]

Considering present events in Ukraine, it could be worthy to refit 50 or 60 of those older Leclerc. It would add some depth to help with potential attrition. Don't necessarly put them into new regiments (you need people for that and France is tight on the HR side too), but retrofit them what so ever, so you have them when you'll need them.

[@micumatrix]

I think the 44 Rheinmetall canon is only upt to the Leo2 A4. Leo2 A6 haa a longer gun than A4.

[@DC2022]

yes, Leopards 2A5+ feature a Rh120 /L55, same with K2 Black Panther who also has a 120 /L55. The issue with at least the german one (dunno about korean gun) is the fishing pole effect when firing on the move that impact negatively the accuracy, something the CN120-26 from GIAT doesn't suffer since it was especially developed to be able to be stable and rigid even at 50kph on off road condition, hence the 90%+ hit ratio @4km in those conditions, something that neither Leopard or Abrams can achieve

[@Lars.171]

The L44 is up to the Leopard 2A5 and still used in all M1A1 and M1A2 Abrams since the US uses DU round to achieve the same energy with the L44 the L55 has with convetional APFSDS rounds

[@keith8346]

Great job, thanks for you hard work

[@ІванКоваль-й5ж]

12:25 don't use trisks, Chris. We know that it's NOT Leclerc here, but prototype of EMBT program

[@bedlam1986]

A good tank we don't hear much about.

[@MattyJ55046]

This is basically the same thing that happen to the F-22. Which is why the F-35 was a group effort and a massive export.

[@leneanderthalien]

but if the F22 was a formidable aircraft (and i'm french) the resulting F35 is very questionable...

[@kenji214245]

@@leneanderthalien That is why they made the F35 to be an adaptive design. They are working on several iterations of it for specific roles. While also uppgrading other planes to be weapons platforms guided by the F35.

[@marc9080]

@@kenji214245 Oui mais les F-35 sont encore et encore cloués au sol, le logiciel est mauvais! à quand un avion qui vole sans tous ces problèmes chez LM???

[@kenji214245]

@@marc9080 had to translate that but yeah early on F35's seems to have struggled quite a bit but they are also flying a lot to get all their pilots up to speed on strenghts and weaknesses. And it seems they are getting a lot less issues lately according some of the articles i have read on that.

[@Yue2000thegamer]

and the F35 is a piece of crap that can't fly except the C variant idk why

[@cghklu]

France is in 1st position (by far) the country that has won the most wars it is this country that has been the most dominant for 1000 years it is therefore logical that the French have the most competent army in the world. combat and military independence with nuclear power, etc. And even if France has been taken hostage by the Parisians since the French Revolution, this country remains very interesting in terms of military culture.

[@embreis2257]

what are you on about? a country can go from being strong with a capable military to being having doubts and a weak or useless military. best example: France in WW1 was strong, a few years later in 1940 it was toast. Ukraine in 2014 was toast with a useless military and look at them now. they kick ruzzia's ass every chance they get

[@kerdart351]

@@embreis2257 tbh, French military in 1940 was toast only in comparison of German army and german new strategy and tactics. Againt nazi Germany (80 millions strong), Poland, USSR and other countries lost a lot of huge battles the same way as France did between 1939 and 1942.

[@Netscape-kd6mg]

@@kerdart351 stilll their tanks could win in 1v3 battles at the time. so they still had the better tanks.

[@kerdart351]

@@Netscape-kd6mg nobody had such tanks back then. Their tanks, who ? Which kind of tank ? Each country had several kind of tanks. What you said is nonsense

[@Netscape-kd6mg]

@@kerdart351 tanks arrived at the mid to end of WW1 dude. we are talking about WW2, tanks were way commun in 1939-40. and the french B1 was a very good tank at that time. better then the panzer1 of the battle of france.

[@toastymc182]

Didn't expect you'd bring up the WT classified document leak shenanigans 😂

[@jeanmouloude]

France military is like japan animes military :) very few but high tech Et vive la france