The UK’s Challenger 2 tank has blasted away the competition in NATO’s Exercise Iron Spear.
The armoured vehicle competition for main battle tanks, held in Estonia, saw a Challenger 2 tank, from the Queen’s Royal Hussars beat a German Leopard 2 tank, operated by Spanish personnel, and the third-placed American M1 Abrams crew.
Major Anthony Kaulback, Chief of Staff for the enhanced Forward Presence Battlegroup in the country, said the regiment was one of those who had donated Challenger 2 tanks to Ukrainian personnel to use in their fight against Russia.
“The fact that one of those Challenger 2s has just won a competition as a lethal tank, one of the most lethal tanks in NATO, is really reassuring… for those Ukrainians that will be using them on the battlefield,” he said.
He explained the competition saw the crews and their tanks put to the test to see how many targets could be engaged within a time limit.
“One of the most potent things about the Challenger 2 is that it’s got something called the hunter-killer mode,” he said.
“That means the commander can be independently scanning to acquire targets whilst the gunner is also trying to find targets but in different arcs.”
Great to still see it competing with tanks with much more recent upgrades.
Which Spanish Leopard 2 tanks are we talking about? Spain has Leopard 2E (local variant of the Leopard 2A6) and the older Leopard 2A4. Also which Abram M1s are we talking about? It doesn’t mean much without knowing the full details.
After the Leos dominated that competition for the last decade?
This is not that surprising given that the Challenger 2 design is almost 20 years newer than the Abrahms or the Leopard 2.
The Brits choosing a rifled barrel over a canon is vindicated! Throw in the magnificent Chopham armour and you’ve got a winner for certain.
Depends a lot on the version of the tank.
A Leopard 2 A4 is 30-40 years old. A Leopard 2A7V or 2A7+ is just on another level.
The UK is getting rid of the Challenger 2 because they are a pain in the ass and replace it with a more NATO harmonized challenger 3 aka what you get when a Leopard 2 A7 and a Challenger 2 had a baby.
Logistically the Challenger 2 is a bad choice for Ukraine. For example the special ammo for a rifled gun, heavy, slow maneuverability, completely different suspension from all other tanks etc.
On a positive note. The tank is tanky AF and despite the lower accuracy of the rifled gun vs smoothbore modern guns an ammunitions it still hold the record for the longest tank on tank kill iirc.
It’s a shame so few were made. Maybe the UK should collaborate with Germany, France, Spain, Italy etc to build a future tank together
The Challenger won because of how good its “tea making facilities” are and you can’t convince me otherwise.
All joking aside there are stories of them from the Iraq War being battered with RPG rounds and coming away with only the optics being damaged. Has to be reassuring for the Ukrainians that they’re getting quality hardware.
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The UK’s Challenger 2 tank has blasted away the competition in NATO’s Exercise Iron Spear.
The armoured vehicle competition for main battle tanks, held in Estonia, saw a Challenger 2 tank, from the Queen’s Royal Hussars beat a German Leopard 2 tank, operated by Spanish personnel, and the third-placed American M1 Abrams crew.
Major Anthony Kaulback, Chief of Staff for the enhanced Forward Presence Battlegroup in the country, said the regiment was one of those who had donated Challenger 2 tanks to Ukrainian personnel to use in their fight against Russia.
“The fact that one of those Challenger 2s has just won a competition as a lethal tank, one of the most lethal tanks in NATO, is really reassuring… for those Ukrainians that will be using them on the battlefield,” he said.
He explained the competition saw the crews and their tanks put to the test to see how many targets could be engaged within a time limit.
“One of the most potent things about the Challenger 2 is that it’s got something called the hunter-killer mode,” he said.
“That means the commander can be independently scanning to acquire targets whilst the gunner is also trying to find targets but in different arcs.”
Great to still see it competing with tanks with much more recent upgrades.
Which Spanish Leopard 2 tanks are we talking about? Spain has Leopard 2E (local variant of the Leopard 2A6) and the older Leopard 2A4. Also which Abram M1s are we talking about? It doesn’t mean much without knowing the full details.
After the Leos dominated that competition for the last decade?
This is not that surprising given that the Challenger 2 design is almost 20 years newer than the Abrahms or the Leopard 2.
The Brits choosing a rifled barrel over a canon is vindicated! Throw in the magnificent Chopham armour and you’ve got a winner for certain.
Depends a lot on the version of the tank.
A Leopard 2 A4 is 30-40 years old. A Leopard 2A7V or 2A7+ is just on another level.
The UK is getting rid of the Challenger 2 because they are a pain in the ass and replace it with a more NATO harmonized challenger 3 aka what you get when a Leopard 2 A7 and a Challenger 2 had a baby.
Logistically the Challenger 2 is a bad choice for Ukraine. For example the special ammo for a rifled gun, heavy, slow maneuverability, completely different suspension from all other tanks etc.
On a positive note. The tank is tanky AF and despite the lower accuracy of the rifled gun vs smoothbore modern guns an ammunitions it still hold the record for the longest tank on tank kill iirc.
It’s a shame so few were made. Maybe the UK should collaborate with Germany, France, Spain, Italy etc to build a future tank together
The Challenger won because of how good its “tea making facilities” are and you can’t convince me otherwise.
All joking aside there are stories of them from the Iraq War being battered with RPG rounds and coming away with only the optics being damaged. Has to be reassuring for the Ukrainians that they’re getting quality hardware.