The FV4030/4 Challenger 1 is a British
main battle tank
A main battle tank (MBT), also known as a battle tank or universal tank, is a tank that fills the role of armor-protected direct fire and maneuver in many modern armies. Cold War-era development of more powerful engines, better suspension sys ...
(MBT) used by the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
from 1983 to 2001, when it was superseded by the
Challenger 2
The FV4034 Challenger 2 (MOD designation "CR2") is a third generation British main battle tank (MBT) in service with the armies of the United Kingdom and Oman. It was designed and built by the British company Vickers Defence Systems (now known ...
. It is also currently used by the
Royal Jordanian Army
The Royal Jordanian Army (Arabic: القوّات البرية الاردنيّة; ) is the ground force branch of the Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF). It draws its origins from units such as the Arab Legion, formed in the British Mandate of Transj ...
as its main battle tank, after heavy modifications. The variants for the Jordanian military were to be upgraded using the unmanned
Falcon turret
The Falcon Turret is a low-profile main battle tank turret under development by King Abdullah II Design and Development Bureau in Jordan, with technical assistance from South Africa.
Featuring an autoloader and capable of mounting the current RU ...
.
History
![Challenger-ODS-1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Challenger-ODS-1.JPEG)
The Challenger design by the former
Military Vehicles and Engineering Establishment
The Military Vehicles and Engineering Establishment (MVEE) was a British defence research unit on Chobham Lane, Chertsey in Surrey. It was responsible for many innovations in armoured vehicle design, including ceramic Chobham armour.
History
T ...
(MVEE) near
Chobham
Chobham is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Surrey Heath in Surrey, England.
The village has a small high street area, specialising in traditional trades and motor trades. The River Bourne and its northern tributary, the Hale, ...
in Surrey originated in an
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
ian order for an improved version of the
Chieftain
A tribal chief or chieftain is the leader of a tribe, tribal society or chiefdom.
Tribe
The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of western Afroeurasia.
Tribal societies are sometimes categori ...
line of tanks in service around the world. These were the Chieftain Mk5(P)- FV4030/1, FV4030/2
Shir (Lion) 1 and 4030/3
Shir 2
The FV4201 Chieftain was the main battle tank of the United Kingdom during the 1960s–1990s.
A development of the Centurion, the Chieftain introduced the supine (reclining) driver position to British design allowing a heavily sloped hull with ...
. With the fall of the
Shah of Iran
This is a list of monarchs of Persia (or monarchs of the Iranic peoples, in present-day Iran), which are known by the royal title Shah or Shahanshah. This list starts from the establishment of the Medes around 671 BCE until the deposition of th ...
and the collapse of the UK
MBT-80
The FV4601 MBT-80 was a British experimental third-generation main battle tank, designed in the late 1970s to replace the Chieftain tank. It was eventually (and later controversially) cancelled in favour of the Challenger 1, itself an evolutio ...
project, the British Army became the customer and the tank was further developed by MVEE to meet Western European requirements. For a short time the tank was named "Cheviot" (the name of a
hill range
A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...
) before becoming "Challenger", a name reused from the
Cruiser Mk VIII Challenger
The Tank, Cruiser, Challenger (A30) was a British tank of World War II. It mounted the QF 17-pounder anti-tank gun on a chassis derived from the Cromwell tank to add anti-tank firepower to the cruiser tank units. The design compromises made ...
tank of World War II.
The most advanced aspect of the Challenger 1 design was its
Chobham armour
Chobham armour is the informal name of a composite armour developed in the 1960s at the British tank research centre on Chobham Common, Surrey. The name has since become the common generic term for composite ceramic vehicle armour. Other name ...
, which gave protection far superior to any monolithic
Rolled Homogeneous Armour
Rolled homogeneous armour (RHA) is a type of vehicle armour made of a single steel composition hot-rolled to improve its material characteristics, as opposed to layered or cemented armour. Its first common application was in tanks. After World ...
(RHA), then standard of western tank armour material. This armour was later adopted by other designs, including the American
M1 Abrams
The M1 Abrams is a third-generation American main battle tank designed by Chrysler Defense (now General Dynamics Land Systems) and named for General Creighton Abrams. Conceived for modern armored ground warfare and now one of the heaviest ta ...
. Additionally, the
hydropneumatic suspension
Hydropneumatic suspension is a type of motor vehicle suspension system, designed by Paul Magès, invented by Citroën, and fitted to Citroën cars, as well as being used under licence by other car manufacturers, notably Rolls-Royce ( Silver Sha ...
provided outstanding cross-country performance through the long suspension arm travel and controlled bump and rebound behaviour offered.
The Challenger was built by the
Royal Ordnance Factories
Royal Ordnance Factories (ROFs) was the collective name of the UK government's munitions factories during and after the Second World War. Until privatisation, in 1987, they were the responsibility of the Ministry of Supply, and later the Minist ...
(ROF). Challenger 1 entered service with the British Army in 1983 and production ceased in 1990 at a cost of around £2 million each.
[''Classic Military Vehicle Magazine'', Issue 46, March 2005] In 1986,
ROF Leeds
Royal Ordnance Factory Leeds, first opened as a munitions factory in December 1915 and opened as an ROF in January 1936, was one of a number of Royal Ordnance Factories created at the start of the Second World War.
Early site history and producti ...
(and the Challenger production line) was acquired by
Vickers Defence Systems
Vickers plc was the remainder of Vickers-Armstrongs after the nationalisation of three of its four operating groups: aviation (as a 50% share since 1960 of British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) in 1977), shipbuilding ( Vickers Limited Shipbuilding ...
(later
Alvis Vickers
Alvis PLC was created when United Scientific Holdings plc acquired the Alvis division of the nationalised vehicle manufacturer British Leyland in 1981. United Scientific maintained its own name until 1992 when the group was renamed Alvis plc. ...
). Jordan initially purchased 274 Challenger 1 tanks. Under an agreement signed in March 1999, another 288 surplus Challenger 1s were supplied to Jordan over a three-year period, which enabled the Jordanian
Centurion
A centurion (; la, centurio , . la, centuriones, label=none; grc-gre, κεντυρίων, kentyríōn, or ) was a position in the Roman army during classical antiquity, nominally the commander of a century (), a military unit of around 80 ...
fleet (known locally as Tariq) to be replaced.
The Ministry of Defence was keen to show off the capabilities of the Challenger 1 in the
Canadian Army Trophy
The Canadian Army Trophy (''CAT'') was a tank gunnery competition established to foster excellence, camaraderie and competition among the armoured forces of the NATO countries in Western Europe.
The trophy is a miniature sterling silver replica o ...
Competition (CAT '87), held at
Grafenwöhr,
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
, in June 1987. The best performing team in preparatory competitions had been the 2nd
Royal Tank Regiment
The Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) is the oldest tank unit in the world, being formed by the British Army in 1916 during the First World War. Today, it is the armoured regiment of the British Army's 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade. Formerly known as th ...
, although its Challengers had not been fitted with
Thermal Observation and Gunnery Sight (TOGS), which would put them at a disadvantage. The
Royal Hussars
The Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales's Own) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was formed by the amalgamation of the 10th Royal Hussars and the 11th Hussars in 1969 and it amalgamated with the 14th/20th King's Hussars to form the King's ...
had a squadron fitted with TOGS; however, they had been training at
BATUS in Canada with Chieftains, instead of training with Challenger and TOGS for CAT '87. Twenty-two new Challengers with TOGS were specially diverted from the production line for the competition, resulting in teething problems. At the competition itself, the Hussars managed some creditable scores but overall, their three "platoons" were placed last in the league table. In a statement to the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
on 14 July,
Ian Stewart, the
Minister of State for the Armed Forces
The minister of state for the armed forces is a mid-level ministerial position at the Ministry of Defence in the Government of the United Kingdom.
When of Minister of State rank (until the appointment of James Heappey as a Parliamentary Under- ...
, said; "I do not believe that the performance of tanks in the artificial circumstances of a competition, such as the recent
Canadian Army Trophy
The Canadian Army Trophy (''CAT'') was a tank gunnery competition established to foster excellence, camaraderie and competition among the armoured forces of the NATO countries in Western Europe.
The trophy is a miniature sterling silver replica o ...
, is a proper indication of their capability in war." Following poor results in 1985 with Chieftain, and in 1987 with Challenger, the British Army decided in December 1987 to withdraw indefinitely from the competition.
A requirement for a new MBT was later issued. Proposals put forward for the new specification included an improved Challenger from Vickers, the American M1 Abrams, the French
Leclerc, and the German
Leopard 2
The Leopard 2 is a 3rd generation main battle tank originally developed by Krauss-Maffei in the 1970s for the West German army. The tank first entered service in 1979 and succeeded the earlier Leopard 1 as the main battle tank of the West Germ ...
. The
Vickers Defence Systems
Vickers plc was the remainder of Vickers-Armstrongs after the nationalisation of three of its four operating groups: aviation (as a 50% share since 1960 of British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) in 1977), shipbuilding ( Vickers Limited Shipbuilding ...
design, designated Challenger 2, was eventually selected. This tank is significantly more capable than its predecessor: based on the same basic MVEE-designed hull, it features a new turret based on the Vickers Private Venture Mk7 design and improved Chobham armour.
Withdrawals of British Army Challenger 1 began in 1998 and it had been completely replaced by Challenger 2 by 2001.
There was also a
Challenger Marksman SPAAG
An anti-aircraft vehicle, also known as a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG) or self-propelled air defense system (SPAD), is a mobile vehicle with a dedicated anti-aircraft capability.
Specific weapon systems used include machine guns, ...
version, equipped with the Marksman turret.
Operational service
![A Challenger 1 tank during the Gulf War](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/A_Challenger_1_tank_during_the_Gulf_War.JPEG)
221 Challenger tanks were deployed to Saudi Arabia for
Operation Granby
Operation Granby, commonly abbreviated Op Granby, was the code name given to the British military operations during the 1991 Gulf War. 53,462 members of the British Armed Forces were deployed during the conflict. The total cost of operations wa ...
, the UK operation in the
1991 Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
. In the original deployment, the
7th Armoured Brigade
7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube.
As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion, mythology, s ...
included two armoured regiments, the
Queen's Royal Irish Hussars
The Queen's Royal Irish Hussars, abbreviated as QRIH, was a cavalry regiment of the British Army formed from the amalgamation of the 4th Queen's Own Hussars and the 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars in 1958. The regiment saw active service against ...
and the
Royal Scots Dragoon Guards
The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers and Greys) is a cavalry regiment of the British Army, and the senior Scottish regiment. The regiment, through the Royal Scots Greys, is the oldest surviving Cavalry Regiment of the Line in the British ...
, both equipped with 57 of the latest Mark 3 version of the Challenger 1. They were modified for desert operations by a
REME
The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME ) is a corps of the British Army that maintains the equipment that the Army uses. The corps is described as the "British Army's Professional Engineers".
History
Prior to REME's for ...
team and civilian contractors at the quayside in
Al Jubayl
Jubail ( ar, الجبيل, ''Al Jubayl'') is a city in the Eastern province on the Persian Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia, with a total population of 684,531 as of 2021. It is home to the largest industrial city in the world. It is also home to th ...
,
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
. This fit included additional
Chobham Armour
Chobham armour is the informal name of a composite armour developed in the 1960s at the British tank research centre on Chobham Common, Surrey. The name has since become the common generic term for composite ceramic vehicle armour. Other name ...
along the hull sides and
explosive reactive armour
Reactive armour is a type of vehicle armour that reacts in some way to the impact of a weapon to reduce the damage done to the vehicle being protected. It is most effective in protecting against shaped charges and specially hardened kinetic ener ...
(ERA) on the nose and front glacis plate. Modifications also included the provision of extra external fuel drums and a smoke generator.
There were major concerns about the reliability of the vehicle.
[McManners p36] In addition there were serious worries about how a tank designed to perform in temperate climates would stand the rigours of desert warfare.
Before the commencement of the Gulf War deployment only 22% of Challenger 1s were operational because of faults and lack of spares.
On 22 November 1990, it was decided to add the
4th Armoured Brigade to the force, under the umbrella of
1st (UK) Armoured Division. The new brigade had a single Challenger regiment,
14th/20th King's Hussars, equipped with 43 Challenger 1 tanks and reinforced by a squadron of the
Life Guards. They were equipped with the Mark 2 version of the tank, which was upgraded by armouring the storage bins for the 120 mm charges as well as the additional armour fitted to the Mark 3's.
During Operation Desert Shield it was decided that the 1st (UK) Armoured Division would be placed under the command of the
US VII Corps. This corps would form the armoured fist of the Coalition forces, tasked with destroying the bulk of the
Iraqi forces. The forces of VII corps crossed the Saudi border into Iraq, and then crossed into Kuwait. The 1st (UK) Armoured Division was the easternmost unit in VII Corp's sector, its Challenger tanks forming the spearhead of the advance. The division advanced nearly 350 km within 97 hours, destroying the Iraqi 46th Mechanised Brigade, 52nd Armoured Brigade and elements of at least three infantry divisions belonging to the Iraqi 7th corps in a series of battles and engagements. They captured or destroyed about 300
Iraqi tanks and a very large number of
armoured personnel carrier
An armoured personnel carrier (APC) is a broad type of armoured military vehicle designed to transport personnel and equipment in combat zones. Since World War I, APCs have become a very common piece of military equipment around the world.
Acc ...
s, trucks, reconnaissance vehicles, etc.
The main threat to the Challenger was deemed to be the
Iraqi Republican Guard
Iraqi or Iraqis (in plural) means from Iraq, a country in the Middle East, and may refer to:
* Iraqi people or Iraqis, people from Iraq or of Iraqi descent
* A citizen of Iraq, see demographics of Iraq
* Iraqi or Araghi ( fa, عراقی), someone o ...
's
T-72M tanks; each British tank was provided with twelve L26A1 "Jericho"
depleted uranium
Depleted uranium (DU; also referred to in the past as Q-metal, depletalloy or D-38) is uranium with a lower content of the fissile isotope than natural uranium.: "Depleted uranium possesses only 60% of the radioactivity of natural uranium, hav ...
(DU) shells specifically for use against T-72Ms, but during the course of the Coalition's ground campaign none was encountered as the division was withdrawn beforehand.
In action, the
Global Positioning System
The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...
(GPS) and Thermal Observation and Gunnery System (TOGS) fitted to the Challengers proved to be decisive, allowing attacks to be made at night, in poor visibility and through smoke screens. In total, British Challengers destroyed roughly 300 Iraqi tanks without suffering a single loss in combat.
Patrick Cordingley
Major General Patrick Anthony John Cordingley, (born 6 October 1944) is a retired British Army officer who commanded the 2nd Division from 1995 to 1996.
Military career
Cordingley was educated at Sherborne School and the Royal Military Acade ...
, the commander of 7th Armoured Brigade, said afterwards that "Challenger is a tank built for combat and not competitions."
On 26 February 1991, a Challenger achieved the longest-range confirmed kill of the war, destroying an Iraqi tank with an
armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding-sabot
Armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS), long dart penetrator, or simply dart ammunition, is a type of kinetic energy penetrator ammunition used to attack modern vehicle armour. As an armament for main battle tanks, it succeeds A ...
(L26A1 APFSDS) round fired over a distance of 4100 m by callsign 11B, th
CO of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guardstank. The gunner, LCpl Michael Smith, lased the target, and watched in disbelief as the targeting ellipse displaced onto the HESH scale due to the extreme distance of the target. "I released the autolay computer system and manually adjusted the ellipse by fine laying onto the target before firing. My only regret was not being able to repeat the shoot to prove to any doubters it was no fluke, but a carefully sighted shot!" M Smith, 25 Sep 2021.
Challengers were also used by the British Army in
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...
and Operation
Joint Guardian
The Kosovo Force (KFOR) is a NATO-led international peacekeeping force in Kosovo. Its operations are gradually reducing until Kosovo's Security Force, established in 2009, becomes self sufficient.
KFOR entered Kosovo on 11 June 1999, two days ...
, the NATO-led drive into Kosovo.
Operators
Current operators
*
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
, 392 Challenger 1.
King Abdullah II Design and Development Bureau
, type = State owned company
, industry = Defence
, founded =
, location_city = Amman, Amman Governorate
, location_country = Jordan
, area_served = Middle East
, key_people = Saoud Nsairat ( Chairman) Br. Gen. Mohmmad Suleiman Fargha ...
upgraded Jordanian Challengers and have become known as ''Al-Hussein''. Multiple local variants. Jordanian Challengers will be phased out of service and replaced by 141 ex-Italian Army
B1 Centauro
The Centauro is a family of Italian military vehicles originating from a wheeled tank destroyer for light to medium territorial defense and tactical reconnaissance. It was developed by a consortium of manufacturers, the Società Consortile Iveco ...
8x8 Mobile Gun Systems as well as ex-German
Marder 1A3 Infantry Fighting Vehicles.
Former operators
*
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
, 420 in service replaced by Challenger 2.
Failed bids
*
Greek Army
The Hellenic Army ( el, Ελληνικός Στρατός, Ellinikós Stratós, sometimes abbreviated as ΕΣ), formed in 1828, is the land force of Greece. The term ''Hellenic'' is the endogenous synonym for ''Greek''. The Hellenic Army is the ...
, Greece wanted to replace its ageing fleet of tanks with a more modern vehicle. It competed against the Leopard 2A6, the M1A1 Abrams, the Leclerc, the Ukrainian T-84 Oplot, and the T-80. The Leopard 2A6 won the competition.
See also
*
List of main battle tanks by generation
Main battle tanks are often classified as belonging to a particular generation, although the actual definition and membership in these generations is not clearly defined. Soviet military planners organize tanks with the first generation of tanks ...
Sources
*
McManners, Hugh, ''Gulf War One'' Real Voices From the Front Line, Ebury Publishing, 2010,
References
External links
Globalsecurity.org
{{Authority control
Military vehicles introduced in the 1980s
Main battle tanks of the United Kingdom
Cold War tanks of the United Kingdom
Main battle tanks of the Cold War