Leopard 2PL-The main battle tank of the Polish Armed Forces

The Leopard 2PL is a main battle tank in service with the Polish Armed Forces, and is a modernized version of the older Leopard 2 A4 tank, written off by Germany and first acquired by Poland in the 2000s. The modernization is currently being carried out in collaboration with Rheinmetall and the Polish Armed Forces Group.
The modernization program was included in the "Polish Armed Forces Technical Modernization Plan for 2013-2022" ( Plan Modernizacji Technicznej ) in December 2012. In early March 2013, an invitation was sent to interested parties regarding the technical dialogue, which took place from March to August. In October 2013, a tender was announced to select a contractor for the program. Three bidders: a consortium consisting of Wojskowe Zakłady Motoryzacyjne from Poznań , Wojskowe Zakłady Łączności Nr. 2 and Rheinmetall Landsysteme GmbH; Consortium Zakłady Mechaniczne Bumar Łabędy , companies OBRUM and Polski Holding Obronny (PHO) and the last consortium consisting of PCO and ASELSAN Elektronik.
The Leopard 2PL is a third generation Main Battle Tank, created in collaboration with Polish Armaments Group and Rheinmetall Landsystems. The tank is designed to occupy and defend an area, and to support fire from the deck guns of mechanized and motorized subunits, in all weather conditions, both day and night.
The modernization of the Leopard 2A4 to the 2PL standard includes strengthening the ballistic resistance of the turret to a level that exceeds that of the engines in the Leopard 2A5 version. Additional external armor modules are installed around the vehicle turret. It was not decided to strengthen the vehicle hull and chassis due to the significant increase in vehicle weight and reduced costs. A special anti-splinter coating has been installed in the vehicle to protect the crew in the vehicle from splashes and armor fragments in the event of a puncture or impact.
The main armament of the tank remained the Rheinmetall Rh-120 smoothbore gun in the L/44 version, but was modified to adapt to the use of new types of ammunition, namely the DM63 armor-piercing shell and the DM11 programmable ammunition. The left and right resistors, return, recoil indicators, and housing for the underside of the shell were replaced, to use the DM11 ammunition, a programming system was introduced in the gun's fall-beam action, as well as a fire control system and an electronic gun trigger assembly.