I received word from an ex-8CH Leopard crewman that the MILES gear was used on the Leopard C1 in both Grafenwehr and Hohenfels from around late 1985 till teh last exercises in Hohenfels prior to closeout in 1993.
The 'kill' light was wedged in wherever it could be...like by the Commander's TRP sight of near the turret bins. The cables were run down the Loader's hatch to the control box.
It doesn't appear to have worked very well on the Leopards and sometimes they just drove around with it turned off. The Hoffman device was used frequently during training in Hohenfels.
I have narrowed down as much as I can in regards to when the IRS 100 Thermal Pointer was first mounted on the Leopard C1. I know they were not mounted in early 1986 and they were mounted by the summer of 1987. My best estimate is late 1986 or early 1987.
Off topic of Germany based Leopard C1's, but when I was commanding Leopard C1's in Canada in or around 1992/1993 we had one exercise in Wainwright where we mounted amber lights on the back decks of the tanks near the driver's tool box. They looked like the old US style amber convoy warning 'winky dinks' with the squared off top. They were part of an interactive system that used anti tank mines equipped with a transmitter. If you drove over or bumped the mines, surface laid or buried, the amber light would start flashing indicating you just had detonated an AT mine, and you were exercise 'dead'.
Does anyone have more info on this training system, or use it also?