Kassel, Germany: On 28 October 2009, Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) handed over the first of 250 Leopard 1A5 main battle tanks to the Brazilian army at the company's site in Kassel, Germany. These will replace the Brazilian fleet of 128 ex-Belgian Leopard 1A1 tanks.

The tanks come from the reserve stocks of the German army and have been overhauled and modernised since the start of this year. Delivery of all the systems is scheduled by 2012.

Brazil purchased the main battle tanks in the context of a government-to-government agreement with Germany. The Federal Office of Defence Technology and Procurement in its turn commissioned KMW at the end of December 2008 as the general contractor to overhaul the tanks and to develop and install specific Brazilian sub-systems.

In addition the contract scope provides the South American country with training equipment, simulators, driver training vehicles and local technical support.

The Leopard 1 was introduced to the German Army in 1965. The last main battle tank of this type was decommissioned in Germany in 2003.

Irrespective of this, the system is still considered to be a technological leader in its class. It has undergone multiple combatimprovement programs and is in use with countries such as Belgium, Chile, Greece, Italy and Turkey.

Read more: MercoPress article.