The Leopard 1 is a German designed and produced main battle tank that first entered service in 1965 and was used as the main battle tank for Germany, several other European countries, Australia, Canada, Brazil and Chile. It is known for its good cross-country speed.
 

Manufactured by Krauss-Maffei, a total of 6,485 Leopard tanks have been built, of which 4,744 were battle tanks and 1741 were utility and anti-aircraft variants. It is a fairly conventional design armed with a German-built version of the British L7 105-mm gun.
 

The Leopard quickly became a standard of European forces, and eventually served as the main battle tank in over a dozen countries worldwide. Since 1990, the Leopard 1 has gradually been relegated to secondary roles in most armies. In the German Army, the Leopard 1 MBTs were phased out in 2003 while Leopard 1 derived vehicles are still widely used. The Leopard 2 MBTs have taken over the MBT role. Leopard hulls have been re-used in a wide variety of roles.