100px|Spanish Leopard 2E in Madrid, October 2006

The Leopard 2E is a variant of the German Leopard 2 main battle tank, tailored to the requirements of the Spanish Army, which acquired it as part of an armament modernization program named Program Armor. The acquisition program for the Leopard 2E began in 1994, five years after the cancellation of the Lince tank program that culminated in an agreement to transfer 108 Leopard 2A4s to the Spanish Army in 1998 and started the local production of the Leopard 2E in December 2003. Despite postponement of production due to the 2003 merger between Santa Bárbara Sistemas and General Dynamics and continued fabrication issues between 2006 and 2007, 219 Leopard 2Es have been delivered to the Spanish Army. The Leopard 2E is a major improvement over the M60 Patton tank, which it replaced in Spain's mechanized and armored units. Its development represented a total of 2.6 million hours worth of work, 9,600 of them in Germany, at a total cost of 1.9 billion euros. This makes it one of the most expensive Leopard 2s built. It has thicker armor on the turret and glacis plate than the German Leopard 2A6, and uses a Spanish-designed tank command and control system, similar to the one fitted in German Leopard 2s. The Leopard 2E is expected to remain in service until 2025. (more...)

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1804:

United States Navy Lieutenant Stephen Decatur led a raid to destroy the captured USS Philadelphia in Tripoli, denying her use to the Barbary States in the First Barbary War. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Decatur

1918:

The Council of Lithuania signed the Act of Independence of Lithuania, proclaiming the restoration of an independent Lithuania governed by democratic principles, despite the presence of German troops in the country during World War I. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_of_Independence_of_Lithuania

1946:

The Sikorsky S-51, the first helicopter to be built for civilian instead of military use, made its first flight. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_H-5

1977:

Archbishop Janani Luwum of the Church of Uganda, a leading voice against the regime of Idi Amin, was arrested for treason and murdered the next day. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janani_Luwum

1983:

The Ash Wednesday fires burned 513,979 acres (2,080 km2) in South Australia and 518,921 acres (2,100 km2) in Victoria, killing 75 people and injuring 2,676 others. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ash_Wednesday_fires

1985:

"The Hizballah Program" was released, describing the ideology and goals of the Shia Islamic political and paramilitary organization Hizballah. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideology_of_Hezbollah

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

dandification (n): The condition or state of a man who is overly concerned about his clothes and appearance http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dandification

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

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Knowledge of human nature is the beginning and end of political education. --Henry Adams http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_Adams