Rheinmetall L55
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The Rheinmetall L55 is a 120 mm calibre smoothbore tank gun designed and produced by the Rheinmetall-DeTec AG company of Germany. Its barrel has a length of 55 calibres (hence L55) or 6.6 metres. The barrel weighs 1.35 tons (2,970 lb) and the complete gun system is 4.16 tons (9,170 lb).
The L55 is the main armament of the Leopard 2 A6 main battle tank.
The L55 is the successor of Rheinmetall's L44 gun. At 25% longer it is significantly heavier but offers higher muzzle velocity which gives better range and penetration for APFSDS kinetic energy rounds.
Theoretically every tank equipped with the L44 gun can be upgraded with a L55 which would include the older Leopard 2 variants and the M1A1/M1A2 Abrams. The Challenger 2 is currently being evaluated with the L55 under the Challenger Lethality Improvement Program. The XK2 MBT is designed to mount the L55 as its default gun.
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