The Greek ELBO Leonidas-1 & Leonidas-2 Tracked APC

Leonidas-2 Tracked Armoured Personnel Carriers

The Greek ELBO Leonidas-1 & Leonidas-2 Tracked APC

ELBO (standing for Elliniki Viomihania Ohimaton, English translation: Hellenic Vehicle Industry), is a Greek vehicle manufacturer based in Thessaloniki.

The first version of the Leonidas was the Austrian Saurer 4K 4FG Armoured Personnel Carrier built with minor modifications by ELBO from 1981 until 1987.

The new version (version 2) was envisioned as a Greek developed Infantry Fighting Vehicle, which would have replaced the ageing Russian BMP-1’s the Hellenic Army had been operating. How ever issues with who was to build the turret needed for a chain gun which could give the vehicle an offensive fighting capability, which is what defines the difference between an Infantry Fighting Vehicle from that of an Armoured Personnel Carrier, meant the new version, now known as ELBO Leonidas-2 never received a turret and is still classed as an APC.

100 flat packs of version 1 were delivered to ELBO between 1982 to 83. ELBO then assembled them and made modifications.

Production of version 2 started in 1986 and ended in 1998. Vehicles produced in 1998 had automatic gearbox’s.

A total of 501 vehicles were delivered to Greece (in both versions) and 197 vehicles delivered to Cyprus (version 2 only).

Specifications

Weight 14.8 tonne
Length 5.87m
Width 2.50m
Height 1.6m
Crew 2 + 8 passengers
Armour welded steel
Main armament x1 12.7 mm MG (1500 rounds stored)
Secondary armament x1 7.62 mm MG3
Engine 320hp STEYR 7FA inline 6-cylinder water-cooled diesel
Power/weight 21.62 hp/tonne
Transmission ZF Synchronized, 6 gears forward and 1 reverse.
Suspension torsion bar
Ground clearance
vertical obstacle 0.8m
trench 2.1m
Operational range 520 km
Top Road Speed 70 km/h