It was named in honour of Marshal Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque, a commander of the Free French Forces, who led the 2nd Armoured Division in World War II.

With production now complete, the French operate 222 Leclercs (with 184 more in storage, for a total of 406), while the United Arab Emirates (UAE) possesses 388.

During the Eurosatory 2024 presented Leclerc Evolution and EMBT ADT140, prototypes of the enhanced fourth-generation main battle tank.

[6] In 1964, studies were initiated about a possible replacement vehicle for the AMX-30 main battle tank: the Engin Principal Prospectif.

In 1971, in view of the inferiority of the AMX-30 in comparison to the new generation of Soviet tanks about to be introduced, the Direction des Armements Terrestres ordered the beginning of the Char Futur project.

It was announced that a purely French battle tank would be developed, called "EPC" (Engin Principal de Combat).

[7] In contrast to most Western programmes of the time, more emphasis was placed on active than passive protection to limit overall vehicle mass.

Nevertheless, it was a stated design goal to achieve at least double the protection against KE-penetrators in comparison to the level attained in then-current MBTs of the fifty-ton weight class, the latter indicated at about 400 mm RHA equivalency.

The 17 units of Batch 2 shipped with turret and hull armour improvements, but were diagnosed with engine and suspension problems and quickly retired.

In 2004, Batch 10 was presented, incorporating a new armour package and information systems that could share the location of enemy and friendly units with all vehicles on the battlefield.

[12] At the 2018 Eurosatory, KNDS presented a technology demonstrator tank combining the hull of a Leopard 2A7 with the lighter, two-man turret of a Leclerc.

[15] In September 2018, Der Spiegel reported that an intermediary in the $3 billion-plus UAE tank sale was paid a commission of nearly US$200 million, and that part of the sum may have been used to bribe government officials.

At the same time, the main gun is decoupled from the stabilization system, indexed to 1.8° elevation and locked in alignment with the loading gutter.

It is possible to replenish the autoloader under armour, through a port in the inner bulkhead by using the 18 rounds cylinder located to the right of the driver's position.

The UAE tropicalized Leclerc uses the improved HL 80 panoramic sight which features an electronic zoom ×2 and a laser range finder of the Nd:YAG type.

A feature of the Hyperbar system used by the V8X1500 engine is that it does not emit visible smoke during acceleration, allowing to reduce the infrared signature of the tank.

[17] The AMX-APX armament institution was responsible for the studies related to the configuration and the integration of the new ballistic protection concepts.

Stéphane Ferrard (1947-2015), a military historian and French journalist, stated in his book, "The Leclerc System", that: Over its 60-degree frontal arc, the tank should be able to withstand multiple impacts of APFSDS ammunition belonging to the largest caliber currently available on the market.

The turret bustle that contains the autoloader is protected on both sides against 30 mm armour-piercing rounds and shoulder-fired anti-tank weapon such as the RPG-7.

[18] The composite storage boxes around and on the turret play a triple role: carrying the tool set, reducing radar cross-section and acting as spaced armour.

Structural self-sealing fuel tanks are located to the right forward part of the hull, in front and above the ammunition drum.

Block 10 and 11 (T10 and T11) Leclerc SXXI tanks are recognizable by their add-on ceramic armour plates bolted on the top of the reactive modules, protecting both sides of the autoloader compartment.

Fourteen 80 mm dispensers of the Lacroix GALIX self-defence system are mounted onto the rear part of the turret.

The French Army uses four types of ammunition: The Leclerc has an eight-cylinder SACM (now Wärtsilä) V8X-1500 1,500 hp Hyperbar diesel engine and a SESM (now Renk AG) [22] automatic transmission, with five forward and two reverse gears.

As of August 2015, Leclerc tanks of the UAE were deployed in combat operations in Yemen (near Aden) as part of the Saudi-led coalition.

One of the episcopes was hit by a ATGM, possibly of Konkurs or Konkurs-M type, killing the driver and injuring the commander's legs.

[33][34] As part of Mission Aigle, Leclerc tanks of the 1st Chasseur Regiment, 7th Armoured Brigade were deployed to Romania in November 2022.

In order to avoid being scrapped, the prototype turret was restored in the 2010s and mounted on a former Leclerc hull which was used in its last years as a towing vehicle.

Some elements of the kit such as the add-on composite armour were bought by the UAE Army for their tropicalized Leclerc operating in Yemen.