An Australian soldier leads a Leopard tank from the 1st Armoured Regiment. Photo by Warrant Officer Trevor Grant

In the mid-1960s, the Army began to focus on a replacement for the Centurion medium tank that had been in service since late 1951. A modern replacement was required for service by the late 1970s.

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) was considering several tanks for the job. In 1971, an Army evaluation team conducted an initial appraisal of the Chieftain and Vickers tanks from the United Kingdom , the French AMX-30, the United States ' M60A1 and the Leopard 1 from the Federal Republic of Germany. The evaluation team also gathered information on the Swedish ‘S’ tank and the Japanese STB-1.

Through the initial appraisal process the Army narrowed its selection to two possibilities, the M60A1 and the Leopard 1, both of which appeared capable of fulfilling the Australian requirements, offering a significant leap forward in technology and capability.

The ADF conducted an examination of the available test reports on each vehicle, and decided it was necessary to acquire both tanks for hot-wet and hot-dry trials in Australia . A specially formed unit, the Medium Tank Trials Unit (MTTU) officially came into being on 13 April 1972 and conducted extensive trials of both vehicles over the next year.

Neither the Leopard 1 or M60A1 fully satisfied the requirement, but the Leopard 1 enjoyed advantages in both strategic and tactical mobility. Both tanks could be transported by ship but, the larger bulk of the M60A1 prevented unrestricted transportation by rail and its heavier weight presented some restrictions for road transport.

Another significant aspect was the availability of derivative vehicles such as an Armoured Recovery Vehicle and a bridgelayer. The Leopard enjoyed a significant advantage in this regard, as the derivatives shared a high degree of commonality with the gun tank.

The ADF selected the German Leopard as Australia ’s new main battle tank. Once this decision was made, the details of numbers of vehicles to be procured, the unique Australian build standard, translation of documentation into English, spare parts scaling and the myriad of other matters associated with such a significant purchase were tackled in earnest.

The result was the Leopard AS1 family which was at the forefront of tank technology when introduced into service in 1977. It has now been replaced by the more modern and capable M1A1 Abrams tank after nearly 30 years service.