Aiyo, the Leo 2 is demonstrating it's superior gun depresssion
which Russian design tank are poor in due to it's small
turret.
Leo 2 has a Gun elevation/depression from 20 deg to -9 deg,
whereas T-72 design has only 13deg 47mins to -6deg 13mins.
It there a tactical advantages?
Yes, there was cases in the battlefield in certain height and
distance where the western design tanks were in a lower ground
could elevate the gun high enough to target the enemy and the
Russian design tank in the elevated ground could not depress low
enough to target back.
Similar to what happen in Grozny and I quote:
This proved disastrous in Grozny where the high density of
antitank weapons threatened armored vehicles, while the depression
and elevation limitations of Russian tank guns kept them from
engaging targets located in basements or in the upper floors of
multi-storied buildings.
http://www.ndu.edu/inss/Strforum/SF_38/forum38.html
That is why having a better Gun elevation/depression is always
better!!!
Another advantage is during hull down position, with a limited
depression, Russian design tank need to expose themselves more to
engage the enemy.
Western tanks have considerably more elevation range and can be
parked in a hull-down position with just the gun and a tiny sliver
of the turret showing, whereas Soviet designs under many
circumstances cannot take up a hull-down position at all because
they cannot depress their guns far enough to park behind a ridge
and shoot down the hill. In the interest of fairness, the origin
and true impact of this shortcoming should be noted.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-72
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hull-down
So with lower depression, Russian design tank is forced to expose
their weak armoured underbelly to the enemy in the above
situation.
