The Leopard 2 was designed in the late 1970s and has since been updated and modified various times. Since 1992, Germany has granted exports for more than 1,900 of the armored heavy-weights, many of which were sold to NATO partner Turkey (347 since 2006).
According to some observers, those same tanks are now being used against Kurdish militias in Northern Syria, which Turkey considers to be terrorists, who are nevertheless supported by the United States in their fight against the Islamic State.
Canada has also bought some Leopard 2, which it also used in Afghanistan.