That’s for the Plain Vanilla M1s. But for the M1A2 SEPs with TUSK II, mineplow, Trophy APS, Anti-IED antennas, GPS, Blue Force Tracker, APU, extra frontal turret armor, and trimmings, their weights are over 80 tons for the M1A2SEPs outfitted with practically EVERY add-on M1A2 kit ever made, and I’m talking about twin .50cals M2s over the 120mm gun barrel, etc. I fixed my original reply to clarify this.
There was a weight chart posted on Reddit or Quora a few years back that showed these weights with add-on kits to the M1A2SEP. Since the source may have been leaked, I think it was removed.
So I posted M1A2SEPv3’s over 80 tons to compare the Leopard KF51’s 59-ton capabilities to that of a M1A2SEPv3 with the “same capabilities” of active layer, passive layer, and reactive layer armor, Anti-IED, Anti-Sniper, Anti-mine, and Trophy APS. Essentially, it’s the Burlington/Chobham and DU armor that makes the M1A2s (and Challenger 2s) so heavy. The Germans may have done away with Burlington/Chobham armor and settled for a cheaper and lighter sandwich armor.
One thing is for sure, with M1 add-on kit, such as TUSK I and II, the weights go into the 70-tons.
Here is an old post showing the TUSK kits. https://forums.kitmaker.net/t/m1a2-sep-v2-trophy-question/13522. Note that the twin .50cal M2HBs are NOT installed over the 120mm gun barrel so it’s NOT the full kit and the M1A2SEPv3 is NOT maxed out weight, meaning it can weigh more.
Getting back to the topic…can the KF51 Panther achieve what the M1A2SEPv3 at 80-tons can with all the add-on kits and trimmings? I doubt it because the extra around 20 tons M1A2SEP kits adds capabilities that I don’t see readily apparent in the sleek flush turret and hull of the KF51.