Lince (tank)

Lince
Mock-up of the German-Spanish Lince
Type	Main battle tank
Place of origin	Spain, West Germany
Specifications
Mass	49 t (54 short tons)
Length	7.10 m
length	(Length with gun) 9.068 metres (29.75 ft)
Width	3.74 m (12.3 ft)
Height	2.50 m (8.2 ft)
Crew	4
Armor	Composite armour
Main armament	Rheinmetall 120 mm L/44 tank-gun (4.72 inches)
Secondary armament	2 x 7.62 mm machine guns
Engine	MTU MB 871 Ka 501 12-Cylinder Diesel Engine 1,200 hp (890 kW)
Power/weight	24.50 hp (18.27 kW) per tonne
Suspension	Torsion bar
Operational range	550 km (340 mi)
Maximum speed	70 km/h (43 mph)

The Lince (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈlinθe], meaning "Lynx") was a Spanish development programme for a proposed main battle tank that unfolded during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The intention was to replace the M47 and M48 Patton tanks that the Spanish Army had received under the U.S. Mutual Defense Assistance Act between 1954 and 1975, and to complement the AMX-30E tanks manufactured for the army during the 1970s. Companies from several nations, such as German Krauss-Maffei, Spanish Santa Bárbara, and French GIAT, made bids for the development contract. The main priorities were mobility and firepower, with secondary priority placed on protection; the Lince tank was to have been lighter and faster than its competitors. To achieve a sufficient level of firepower and protection, the Lince was to use Rheinmetall's 120 mm L/44 tank-gun and German composite armour from the Leopard 2A4.

The Spanish government decided to upgrade its fleet of AMX-30Es in the late 1980s. The focus on upgrading Spain's AMX-30E's distracted attention from the Lince plan, which was eventually shelved in 1990 after Spain acquired many M60 Patton tanks, which were no longer required by the U.S., in accordance with the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe. These tanks replaced the M47s and M48s, and fulfilled Spain's need to modernize its tank forces in the short term. No prototype of the planned Lince tank was manufactured, and no announcements were made on who would receive the contract. Four years later the Spanish government procured and locally manufactured the Leopard 2, fulfilling the long-term modernisation goal established in the Lince programme.