Review

The following introduction is taken from the Tankograd website:

On 05 May 2017, the Bundeswehr and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) signed a contract for the combat capability upgrade of 20 in-service Leopard 2A7s to the 2A7V design standard, as well as the production and delivery of 84 additional Leopard 2A7V tanks from 2020. The last vehicles were handed over in 2023. As was the case with the 2A7, the comprehensive modifications to the 2A7V – which primarily affect the areas of protection, mobility, controllability, endurance and firepower – consist of both performance-enhancing measures and complementary ones. This publication shows the Leopard 2A7V main battle tank in its most modern combat upgrade configuration in service and in great technical detail.

The Leopard main battle tank in its various guises has been in service since the 1960s. Tankograd has now released one of their soft backed books covering the latest version the 2A7V. This release is one of their duel language titles, with text provided in both English and German, with English on the right and German on the left of each pages and it is authored by Ralph Zwilling. The paper is of a high quality gloss stock that displays the photographs very well and the 80 pages that make up the contents is protected in a high gloss card cover, which from experience holds up well. 

As is usual from these titles from Tankograd, the main text is kept short and so allows the photographs that are included to speak for themselves. The text is well written, but the size of the font is one that I am beginning to struggle with as I get older, and have to use dedicated reading glasses. However, that is more a me problem than a Tankograd issue. 

The sections within the title begins with the new German main battle tank, commissioning and vehicle handover, and then the book goes into aspects of the vehicle in detail both inside and out - the best way to think of it is an up close and personal walkaround. The photographs have been taken in the field for the most part, and I was pleased to see a vehicle that had some dirt on it rather than being in pristine condition. All photographs have their own duel language captions, which is another high point of these titles. Something that Tankograd have begun to include in their titles are scale drawings showing the vehicle in various profiles that I feel is a particularly pleasant inclusion in this series - increasing their value for the modeller.