Abstract
In 1963, West Germany and the United States agreed to jointly develop a next-generation main battle tank (MBT): the Kampfpanzer 70 or MBT 70. With an integrated 152 mm gun/missile system, an autoloader handling caseless ammunition, spaced armour, a revolutionary hydro- pneumatic suspension, and a top speed of close to 45 mph, the KPz 70 was well ahead of its time. However, the sheer complexity of the design, which was an attempt to push ahead in several areas of cutting-edge technology development simultaneously, also proved its undoing. Plagued by technical issues and cost overruns, the project was abandoned by the Bundeswehr and collapsed shortly thereafter. The eventual results of the separate replacement projects were the Leopard 2 on the West German side and the M1 Abrams on the American side, both of which remain in widespread service to this day. Despite playing a critical role in the development of Western armoured forces during the “long peace”, the failed KPz 70 and the concepts that would have underpinned its employment in battle have not received much attention in military innovation studies. The paper will examine the development, demise and legacy of the KPz 70 programme within the overall context of the evolution of Cold War mechanized warfare. It will situate the KPz 70 and its capabilities both within the historical context of German armoured operations in the latter phase of World War II, and in relation to the Cold War military competition along the European central front. Far from being only of historical interest, the increasing prevalence of cooperative armaments programmes as a tool of military innovation and the ongoing development of a new German- French MBT make the KPz 70 a highly relevant case study within the framework of the proposed special issue. The article will be based on German primary source materials stored at the Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv in Freiburg im Breisgau, which are expected to be highly pertinent based on a preliminary inspection.
Panel: Military Innovation in the Long Peace
Cite this presentation
@inproceedings{eiss-2019-failing-to-succeed-the-kpz-70-and-german-innovation-in-armored-warfare-1963-71,
author = {Michael Carl Haas},
title = {Failing to Succeed: The KPz 70 and German Innovation in Armored Warfare, 1963-71},
booktitle = {European Security Studies Conference 2019},
year = {2019},
url = {https://eiss-europa.com/papers/2019-failing-to-succeed-the-kpz-70-and-german-innovation-in-armored-warfare-1963-71.html}
}