The MoD rejected these alternatives, and in June 1991 the MoD placed a £520 million order for 127 MBTs and 13 driver training vehicles. The MoD evaluated the American M1A2 Abrams, the French Leclerc, and the West German Leopard 2 against the Challenger 2. The Challenger 1's performance in the Gulf War bolstered the MoD's confidence in British armour. At the last of these milestones, Vickers was to have met 11 key criteria for the tank's design. The demonstration phase had three milestones for progress, with dates of September 1989, March 1990, and September 1990. Vickers received a £90 million contract for a demonstrator vehicle to be delivered by September 1990. After some supportive lobbying by Baron Young, the Thatcher government chose to proceed with the Challenger 2 in December 1988. Vickers' indigenous design was received skeptically by some senior MoD officials, and was evaluated against the American M1 Abrams offered by General Dynamics. Following the issue of a Staff Requirement for a next-generation tank, Vickers submitted its plans for the Challenger 2 to the Ministry of Defence (MoD). Vickers Defence Systems began to develop a successor to Challenger 1 as a private venture in 1986. The second was the Persian Gulf War era Challenger 1, which was the British army's main battle tank (MBT) from the early 1980s to the mid-1990s. The Challenger 2 is the third vehicle of this name, the first being the A30 Challenger, a World War II design using the Cromwell tank chassis with a 17-pounder gun. This has culminated in an upgraded design, known as Challenger 3, which is set to gradually replace Challenger 2 from 2027. Since the Challenger 2 entered service in 1998, various upgrades have sought to improve its protection, mobility and lethality. A number of British Challenger 2 tanks were delivered to Ukraine in 2023. Ĭhallenger 2 tanks were also ordered by Oman in the 1990s with delivery of 38 vehicles being completed in 2001. To date, the only time a tank has been destroyed during operations was by accidental friendly fire from another Challenger 2 in Basra in 2003. The tank entered operational service with the British Army in 1998 and has since been used in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Iraq. In June 1991, the UK ordered 140 vehicles, followed by a further 268 in 1994 these were delivered between 19. The Challenger 2 eventually completely replaced the Challenger 1 in British service. Powered by a Perkins CV12-6A V12 diesel engine, the tank has a range of 550 kilometres (340 mi) and maximum road speed of 59 kilometres per hour (37 mph). The turret and hull are protected with second generation Chobham armour, also known as Dorchester. Fifty rounds of ammunition are carried for the main armament, alongside 4,200 rounds of 7.62 mm ammunition for the tank's secondary weapons: a L94A1 EX-34 chain gun mounted coaxially, and a 元7A2 (GPMG) machine gun. The main armament is a 元0A1 120-millimetre (4.7 in) rifled tank gun, an improved derivative of the L11 gun used on the Chieftain and Challenger 1. Despite outward similarities to the Challenger 1, design and technological developments mean that only about 3% of components are interchangeable with the earlier vehicle. The Ministry of Defence ordered a prototype in December 1988. It was designed by Vickers Defence Systems (now BAE Systems Land & Armaments) as a private venture in 1986, and was an extensive redesign of the company's earlier Challenger 1 tank. 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, Oman, and Ukraine.
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