Video: truck with Defense tank crashes on the A12

July 25, 2022

Freak accident

This is what you call in English a freaky accident. A Defense truck suffered a flat tire on the A12 near Reeuwijk on Monday afternoon, causing the driver to lose control of the wheel. Salient detail: on the trailer of the truck is a tank. The combination truck + tank came to a stop against a sound barrier.

Leopard Tank

Of course, a truck is not supposed to go straight off the road if one of the tires fails, but it may not be very strange. The tank on the trailer is a Leopard 2A6, the heaviest fighting tank in the Dutch Army. The whole trailer seems to have gone through its hooves.

59,900 kg

The 60-ton monster is our military’s most powerful weapon system. Combat-ready, it weighs exactly 59,900 kilograms and including ejection tube it is 10.97 meters long. Thanks to a 1,500-hp 46.0-liter V12 biturbo diesel engine (you read that right), it can reach a top speed of 68 kilometers per hour. So in principle, the tank can drive itself home. The mandatory minimum speed, also called the minimum construction speed, on the highway is 60 kilometers per hour. In the video below you can see the havoc the truck wreaked.

Photo: Rijkswaterstaat Traffic Information
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