Panther II

The Panther II tank was a German tank design proposal, based on the Panther tank during the Second World War. It had thicker armour when compared with the Panther and some standardised components were implemented from the Tiger II tank. The Panther II never got past prototyping and never was produced.

The early motivation for improving the Panther tank came from the concern of Adolf Hitler and others who believed that it lacked sufficient armour. Hitler had already insisted on an increase in its armour once, early in the design of the original Panther in 1942. Discussions involving Hitler in January 1943 called for further increased armour; initially referred to as Panther 2, it became the Panther II after April 1943.

There would have been the usual tank crew consisting of 5 crew members: the driver, commander, gunner, loader and radio operator.

Following the decision not to go ahead with starting production of it, the concepts and ideas were then utilised for the design of the E-50 Standardpanzer project.

This upgrade to the Panther tank increased the thickness of the glacis plate to 100 mm (3.9 in), the side hull armour to 60 mm (2.4 in), and the armour on the top hull to 30 mm (1.2 in). Production of the Panther II was slated to begin in September 1943.

Much of the Panther II's design was taken from the Tiger tank. On 10 February 1943, Dr. Wiebecke (chief design engineer for M.A.N.) suggested thoroughly redesigning the Panther II and incorporating Tiger components such as the steering gear, final drives, the suspension system and turret based on Eastern Front experiences. The total weight would have increased to more than 50 tonnes. Another meeting on 17 February 1943 focused on sharing and standardising parts between the Tiger II and the Panther II, such as the transmission, all-steel 80 centimetre diameter road-wheels that only overlapped (as on the Tiger II) and not interleaved (as the original 'Schachtellaufwerk' road-wheel system used) and running gear.

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