Challenger Main Battle tank.

[CharlesBronson]

I found a very good video about the first variant of this british heavy tank so I say "why not a entire topic for it? '"

But first the video, in here you can see the Challenger 1 in exercises in Wales firing live ammo against several targets.

Is just me or the operation of the 2 piece separate charge ammunition is a bit complicated ?

 

[Matt308]

From what I have read, they performed exceptionally well in Desert Storm. 300 iraqi tanks destroyed vs 0 Challengers. And in the first 100 hours/217 miles avg run, only 2 out of almost 200 Challengers broke down.

 

[Colin1]

I was with my company in Bovington (historical home of the British Armoured Corps) integrating our system onto Challenger II. The tankies regarded Challenger I as nothing more than a posh Chieftain and claimed that the Challenger II was a bigger leap over Challenger I, than Challenger I was over the Chieftain.

One thing that never dulled on my senses was the sheer scale of the beast, standing on its hull it was like a small ship. I can't remember what the position was beneath the commander's position but it wouldn't help him if he was a big guy, talk about cramped...

 

[CharlesBronson]

I was with my company in Bovington (historical home of the British Armoured Corps) integrating our system onto Challenger II. The tankies regarded Challenger I as nothing more than a posh Chieftain and claimed that the Challenger II was a bigger leap over Challenger I, than Challenger I was over the Chieftain

Well if you look at the video you ll see the Ch 1 missing 3 targets, probably the II variant would knock them dow all.

Thanks for the info guys, i wonder how the british rifled 120mmm accuraccy would compare with the non-rifled german 120mm in the M1 abrams/Leopard II.