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>
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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>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
88px
Knowledge of human nature is the beginning and end of political
education.
--Henry Adams
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_Adams>
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