The Challenger 3: British Army's new main battle tank – Challenger 3 or (CR3) is a planned third generation British main battle tank in development for the British Army. It will be produced by conversion of existing Challenger 2 tanks by the British/German Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land (RBSL) joint venture, with its major upgrade featuring extra firepower and cutting-edge protection systems are expected to ensure the UK remains at the forefront of tank design, and ready to respond the future global threats and challenges. This “world-beating” tank project has seen it first steel-cutting ceremony on March 2022, which took place at Armstrong Works in Newcastle, northeast England.
Historically, the British Army has began its construction despite a continually diminishing tank force since the end of the Cold War, while the changing face of land warfare had seen speculation that the United Kingdom get rid of its tanks, and the situation in Eastern Europe, in particular, has seen the focus switch back to armored warfare. It costs about $1.3 billion to upgrade 148 CR3 from the existing CR2 which are intended to keep the capabilities remain until at least 2040, and will provide 200 skilled jobs at RBLS including 130 engineers and 70 technicians.
So what will the Challenger 3 as the next main battle tank be like?
The future tanknology Challenger 3s will be equipped with a new 120 mm Rheinmetall L55A1 smoothbore gun that will replace the current 120 mm rifled gun with much greater velocity and penetrating power, with its new main weapon capable to fire advanced programmable ammunition and aimed using a new suite of sights with improved day and night targeting abilities. Additionally, the modernized tank will feature enhanced protection, including new modular armor and the Rafael Trophy active protection system. As well as being a key part of the upgrade, the new turrets that are now taking shape at Armstrong Works are also intended to be provided for export that can support the case for the UK participation in any future international tank programs.
Morever, this new main battle tank is a manifestation of change that will sit at the heart of warfighting capability. Its main armament will overmatch its adversaries and the crew will be afforded a unique level of protection, transformed the army to be more lethal, better protected, and better connected any its competitor.
The British Army also characterizes Challenger 3 as a new “digitized backbone”, which will connect it to other combat vehicles to make up the fighting brigade, enable data sharing across domains to deliver information advantage, enable multi-domain integration, an edge over advesaries with its modular design, and offers operational commanders an enhanced survivability suite capable of taking on any battlefield threats that it is likely to encounter across the world. Futhermore, the design changes on the CR3 provide a growth path to futher increase the already enhanced lethality offered.
These growth options will ensure the UK remains at the forefront of main battle tank design. However, nowadays, MBT is threatened by more systems than ever before and this has led the UK to develop a new modular armor that will defeat even the most demanding of threats as part of the CR3 single quotes layered protection. In addition, the fleet will be the first to receive the best active protection system allowing it to recognize incoming threats and neutralize them, and the tank will also undergo full electro magnetic testing to ensure its survivability and the most demanding of sensor saturated battlefields.
What's more, the Challenger 3 will lead NATO armored forces with the highest level of lethality and survivability on the battlefields of today and out to 2040. It achieves this not only by employing the new gun, but also by using the most advanced ammunition available globally and the new suit of sites gives the tank commander an independent day and night all-weather hunter killer capability which allows them to acquire and engage targets than potential adversaries.
Now, let's find out the future challenges of the CR3
The British Army points out that the Challenger 3 program is currently on track. Meanwhile, there may still be hurdles ahead and the service will be desperate to avoid the problems, including excessive noise and vibration that have bedeviled the Ajax armored fighting vehicle program. Another pitfall is mentioned by the Royal United Services Institute, where it leads to the choice of ammunition for the main armament, and how long it will take for this to be fully operational, as well as possible difficulty in the integration of the Trophy active protection system.
Lastly, the biggest question mark over the program, however, involves the relatively small number of CR3 tanks that will be manufactured and deployed, which have been suggested that if the military gets involved in a battle comparable to the one in Ukraine, it might swiftly run out of tanks.
In conclusion, despite limited defense budgets available and other high-profils program to support, the British Army belive that their new and improved main battle tank will pack a real punch and represent a significant generational upgrade and capability, allowing the tanks of having 24 hour weather mobile protected, precision, direct fire, and armor manuever capability which will be critical to defence's ability to deliver big power.
