Jordan boasts a large fleet of armored vehicles, which however is strongly dated and despite peaceful relations with Israel, it is located on the remaining borders nations that present situations of serious internal instability such as Iraq and Syria equipped, however, with modern T-90S / tanks. SK.
The United Arab Emirates, by virtue of the friendship with the Hashemite monarchy and the recently normalized relations with Tel Aviv, have deemed it appropriate to sell the GIAT Leclerc tanks to Amman both to modernize the local armored component and to create synergies in order to develop upgrades involving the global fleet of these tanks.
The Leclercs have been in service in the United Arab Emirates Army since 1994 which was followed by an update back in 2003 by the French parent company but, in the light of the lessons learned during the conflict in Yemen, the Emirati General Staff deems it necessary to submit them to further improvements, perhaps with the support of the Jordanian company King Abdullah II Design And Development Bureau (KADDB).
These tanks at the Royal Jordanian Army will equip two of the 3rd Armored Division's four tank battalions. This large unit, belonging to the Jordanian Central Command, is made up of the 40th Armored Brigade King hussein (2nd Royal Tank Battalion and 4th Royal Tank Battalion Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein) and the 60th Armored Brigade (3rd Royal Tank Battalion and 5th Royal Tank Battalion) equipped with old tanks, most of them, especially the older ones of British construction, placed in reserve. The tanks currently in force at the royal Jordanian army are: the Tariq (Centurion), the M 60A3TTS, some of which, undergoing the Phoenix update by the KADDB, the Khalid (Chieftain) and the Al-Hussein (Challenger 1).
The Leclerc EAU (TROP) version, unlike the one in service with the Armée de Terre, is equipped with a 883CV MTU MT-500 ka-1500 engine with Renk HSWL 295TM transmission. In addition, it is equipped with an elongated hull to accommodate larger tanks, external APU, panoramic view HL-80 associated with the thermal imaging camera Alis and laser rangefinder, remotely controlled turret Armement Télé-Opéré equipped with FN MAG machine gun and Leclerc Battlefield Management System.
Photo: Alain Servaes
