The Lince was a proposed main battle tank for the Spanish Army in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The intention was to replace the M47 and M48 Patton tanks that Spain had received under the U.S. Mutual Defense Assistance Act between 1954 and 1975. The focus on upgrading Spain’s AMX-30E’s distracted attention from the Lince plan, which was eventually shelved in 1990 after Spain acquired many M60 Patton tanks.
About Lince (tank) in brief
The Lince was a proposed main battle tank for the Spanish Army in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The intention was to replace the M47 and M48 Patton tanks that Spain had received under the U.S. Mutual Defense Assistance Act between 1954 and 1975. Companies from several nations, such as German Krauss-Maffei, Spanish Santa Bárbara, and French GIAT, made bids for the development contract. The focus on upgrading Spain’s AMX-30E’s distracted attention from the Lince plan, which was eventually shelved in 1990 after Spain acquired many M60 Patton tanks. No prototype of the planned Lince tank was manufactured, and no announcements were made on who would receive the contract. Four years later the Spanish government procured and locally manufactured the Leopard 2, fulfilling the long-term modernisation goal established in the L Vince programme. The Lince would be 49tonnes and equipped with a 120-millimeter main gun and a 1,200 horsepower engine.
It could travel as fast as 70 kilometres per hour on the roads. The main priorities were mobility and firepower, with secondary priority placed on protection. It was to have been lighter and faster than its competitors. The vehicle’s size would also have been restricted by the Spanish rail and highway network. It would have been based on the German Leopard 2A4, but with a smaller, lighter, and lighter, trading for protection for day and night operations. The French government proposed to cooperate with Spain in designing a tank complete with new technology—France would later develop this programme on its own as the AMx-Leclerc. In 1985, the only export offers still under consideration from the German-Spanish and Italian governments were the French-Spanish collaboration.
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