Challenger 2
The British Army's sole main battle tank since 1998 — a heavily armoured, 62.5-tonne brute with a unique 120 mm rifled gun, set to be replaced by the smoothbore-armed Challenger 3.
Britain’s last domestically designed main battle tank — a 62.5-tonne armoured behemoth whose rifled 120 mm gun sets it apart from every other NATO tank in the field.
Overview
The FV4034 Challenger 2 is the sole main battle tank of the British Army, fielded from 1998 to replace the Chieftain/Challenger 1 line. Built around a crew of four and a cast/welded turret with advanced Chobham-type armour, the type carries the 120 mm L30A1 rifled gun — the only such weapon still in Western front-line MBT service. Although exceptionally protected, the Challenger 2’s modest 1,200 hp powerpack gives it a lower power-to-weight ratio than its European peers, and the fleet is now being converted to the smoothbore-armed, digitised Challenger 3 standard.
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- Development
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