The successor to the Leopard 1, the Leopard 2, was initially manufactured in 1979. A variety of upgrade programs and options are available for the Leopard 2. These include the Atlas Elektronik car incorporated Command and Information System (IFIS), an electronic digital command and information system. The Leopard 2 has already established technical improvements under Upgrading amount we and Level II programs. A new smoothbore gun, the 120 millimetre L55 Gun, is manufactured by Rheinmetall GmbH of Ratingen, Germany to restore the shorter 120 millimetre L44 smoothbore tankgun on the Leopard 2. It allows effective usage of a new APFSDS-T round, DM53 (LKE II), with a lengthier rod penetrator, and that is under development.
