These tanks would be permantly stationed in West-Germany, possibly benefitting from the spare part infrastructure that the German military was expected to set up for their version of the Leopard 2. In particular the option of buying a total of 500 Leopard 2AV tanks for the US Army Europe (USAREUR) was considered. Leopard 2AV tank equipped with a 120 mm smoothbore gun One such option was buying the Leopard 2AV tank in addition to the XM1 Abrams. The United States government considered different options in order to calm things down and to save this financial lucrative deal. West-Germany had considered buying several Boeing E-3 AWACS planes as part of a compensation deal and to strengthen NATO’s early warning capabilities. While German officials had been given a “gag order” to minimize the public outcry regarding the US trials, the government threatened to cancel a planned AWACS buy. The disagreement regarding the US trials had further implications. A study funded by the German state had proven beforehand that the license production of the tank was feasible in the US. Thus West-Germany had partnered with the US defence company FMC for local production: FMC would have made the Leopard 2AV tank under license in the United States of America, if the tank had been selected by the US Army. The German government believed (supposedly based on informal statements made by the US Secretary of Defence) that the Leopard 2AV would have been procured by the United States military, in case it performed better. While the West-German noted that the Leopard 2AV met 61 out of the 77 rated requirements, the US Army utilized another system for weighting the requirements thus the XM1 prototype (meeting only 48 rated requirements) was deemed better. Both sides had different interpretations of the trials’ results, and the preceding memorandum of understanding (MoU). After the 1976 trials of both XM1 Abrams main battle tank candidates and the West-German Leopard 2AV prototype, the relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and the United States were strained.
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