Panther KF51

The Panther KF51 (KF is short for German "Kettenfahrzeug" lit. 'tracked vehicle') is a German fourth-generation main battle tank (MBT) that is under development by Rheinmetall. It was unveiled publicly at the Eurosatory defence exhibition on 13 June 2022. Different variants of the Panther KF51 are being co-developed by Rheinmetall with N7 in Hungary and Leonardo in Italy.

The KF51 is based on the hull of the Leopard 2A4, but with a new turret mounting an autoloaded 130 mm main gun. On 5 December 2022, Rheinmetall announced its plans to target mostly existing Leopard 2 operators with the KF51.

Rheinmetall began the development of major subsystems for the Panther in 2016, with system-level design commencing in 2018. The Panther was developed as a private venture by Rheinmetall to demonstrate by 2026 the potential for increasing the lethality, mobility, survivability, and networking capabilities of MBTs without incurring a significant increase in weight. To reduce the weight of the Leopard 2A4 platform on which the development vehicle was based, Rheinmetall prioritised active over passive protection.

Further developments under consideration for the vehicle include measures to make it more environmentally friendly during peacetime operations; the installation of a more powerful and more efficient engine; the integration of AI into the fire control system for automated target detection and identification; mounting an unmanned turret on the vehicle; and the creation of an unmanned version of the Panther. Efforts to make the tank more environmentally friendly could result in an alternative hull being developed for the Panther.

In August 2023, Viktor Orban announced in a TikTok video that the Hungarian government would join in the development of the KF51. He stated, "We are producing Lynxes, purchasing Leopards, and participating in the development of the Panther." According to some news agencies, the Hungarian government was planning to invest €300 million into the development and production of the KF51 Panther tank. According to Armin Papperger, the CEO of Rheinmetall AG, the development contract was signed with the Hungarian government in early September 2023, with production of the KF51 Panther possibly planned in the newly constructed Rheinmetall factory in Zalaegerszeg.

On 9 October 2025, Rheinmetall announced that the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency would invest €1.4 million in the company's Zalaegerszeg facility. The money would be used to increase production and development capacity for the KF41 Lynx and KF51 Panther.

The current KF51 demonstrator is based on the hull of the Leopard 2A4 and thus has a conventional MBT layout, with the driver at the front, the turret in the middle and the engine at the rear. The driver is seated in the front right of the hull and is provided with a single-piece hatch above their position in the roof of the glacis plate. A separate crew station can be provided in the left front of the hull for either a dedicated systems operator or a unit commander. Colour cameras for the driver are installed in the centre of the front and rear of the hull.

The Panther provides all crew members except the gunner with standardized crew stations, each featuring a large central 23-inch display screen and two smaller 10-inch displays below that. Two further screens are mounted to the left and right of the operator respectively, displaying the view from the left and right situational awareness cameras. Due to the demonstrator turret utilizing a version of the Leopard 2's EMES 15 gunner's sight, the gunner's place is slightly different. The use of standardized crew stations and drive-by-wire technology means that every crew member can take over every role, e.g. in theory the tank can also be driven by the commander and the gun can be fired by the driver.