Ranked third, Britain rushes to upgrade Challenger 2 tank

Britain has just decided to upgrade the Challenger-2 tank, an upgrade package carried out after Focus Magazine (Germany) ranked this tank line behind China's Type-99.

Join forces to upgrade

According to Defense News on December 28, two defense manufacturers BAE Systems and Rheinmetall have been selected to develop technology and manufacture prototypes of an upgraded version of the Challenger-2 tank called Challenger-2 Life Extension (CR2 LEP).

However, the UK Ministry of Defence will have the final decision on the upgrade method after studying the prototype presented by BAE Systems and Rheinmetall.

Manufacturers BAE Systems and Rheinmetall will work with British Army units to develop upgrade components on the Challenger 2 Life Extension tank and transfer technology.

The upgrade is being carried out at BAE Systems’ Telford facility. At this stage, Rheinmetall’s mission will be to assess the condition of the existing Challenger-2 tanks and develop new repair and upgrade options.

According to initial information revealed, after upgrading, Challenger-2 will be equipped with new thermal imaging equipment and many devices in the vehicle compartment. The special point is that this tank line still uses the domestic 120mm rifled gun barrel instead of using the Rh-120 120mm smoothbore gun, the caliber/barrel length ratio reaches 55 caliber of Rheinmetall.

Challenger 2 tank fires.

In line with the new army strategy, each British heavy mechanized brigade will consist of two tank units with 18 tanks each. The British Army is also considering maintaining only 227 Challenger-2 tanks or reducing the current tank fleet by 40%.

The exact number will be determined based on the analysis results submitted to the British Ministry of Defense in the near future. According to experts, the UK decided to upgrade this line of tanks because their power is assessed as not being commensurate with the new generation tanks of current opponents.

Weaker than China?

Although considered the best tank in the world, the British Challenger 2 tank is still ranked lower than the Chinese Type-99 tank by Focus Magazine (Germany). According to this ranking, the Type 99 tank is ranked 3rd in the world and above the Challenger 2, Merkava 4 (Israel), T-90 (Russia)...

Focus magazine believes that the German Leopard 2 tank deserves to be the best tank in the ranking of the world's most powerful tanks. Coming in second is the US Army's M1A2 Abrams tank, and behind the Type 99 tank are a series of "kings of the battlefield": the British Challenger 2 tank, the Israeli Merkava 4, the Russian T-90, the French AMX-56, the Japanese Type 10 and the Korean K2.

However, the ranking is not satisfactory because of the real power of these tanks. Accordingly, the Type 99 tank is advertised by China as the king of the battlefield of Asia, converging many superior features of many battle tanks of military powers in the world, such as Germany, the US, Israel, and especially Russia.

However, in 2014, the American defense magazine Business Insider commented that the Type 99 was just a hybrid, lacking in features and full of flaws. Meanwhile, the Challenger 2 tank has the strengths to be worthy of being the strongest tank in the world.

The Challenger 2 is equipped with many modern electronic systems, including a special processor that allows optimization for the gunner on the vehicle, while allowing the commander and gunner to observe the same target at the same time. This is one of the new features that no other tank in the world has.

The crew is equipped with a number of target observation devices including: SAGEM VS 580-10 sight with laser rangefinder (for the commander); TOGS II sight (for the gunner) allowing thermal imaging for accurate aiming and combat in all conditions.

With a state-of-the-art electronic system, Challenger 2 is equipped with an extremely powerful defense and firepower system. This tank is equipped with a 120mm L30 twisted barrel gun that can fire many types of armor-piercing shells such as: APFSDS L23 finned subcaliber armor-piercing shell (bullet velocity 1.53m/s); APFSDS L26 shell (with low-enriched uranium warhead); L34WP smoke shell to reduce the enemy's visibility.

The turret is also equipped with a 7.62mm L94A1 machine gun on the left side of the 120mm gun. The gun has a rate of fire of 520-550 rounds/minute, which can wipe out an infantry squad in less than 10 seconds. In addition, a 7.62mm L37A2 machine gun is mounted on the roof of the vehicle, but it is not integrated with an automatic control mount.

According to Baodatviet