• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Ukraine - Challenger 2

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine revealed 02 September 2023 the advantages of the UK-supplied Challenger main battle tank in combat conditions. It is noted that the soldiers of one of the units of the Airborne Assault Forces pursue their effort to liberate Ukrainian lands in southern Ukraine, including using modern models of heavy armored vehicles supplied by international partners. "Fire precision of the British tank is comparable to that of a sniper rifle. If there were more such armored vehicles, we would be able to achieve a greater effect in our battle with the enemy," said the driver mechanic from one of the tank units.

An image shared on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter depicted a British Challenger 2 tank outfitted with a field expedient ‘cope cage’ covering its turret. The original poster of the tweet did not explicitly state the location of the tank, but the suggestion is that it’s in Ukraine. This has become a common practice in Ukraine’s battlefield where both Ukrainians and Russians often create and attach such ‘cope cages’ to their heavy armored vehicles to shield the vehicle from drone attacks. The practice of attaching a ‘cope cage’ to the turret of various military vehicles was first observed in 2021, initiated by a Russian tank brigade deploying tanks in Crimea.

The featured Challenger 2 tank is no exception. The displayed Challenger 2 tank was without the additional armor of the TES – Theater Entry Standard, which includes not just extra armor, but also supplementary equipment. Britain had pledged to deliver 14 tanks to Ukraine in this exact configuration, also known as Megatron. Much of the image is blurred to hide the surroundings, a technique often employed to obscure the exact location of an image to prevent enemy geolocation.

Britain will provide Ukraine with main battle tanks, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told reporters on 11 January 2023. The statement came after Poland said it would transfer German-made tanks to Kiev’s forces, with Berlin’s permission. The spokesman said Sunak had asked Defense Secretary Ben Wallace to “work with partners” to go “further and faster with our support for Ukraine including the provision of tanks.”

A formal announcement will likely be made in conjunction with several of Britain’s NATO allies, as was the case when the US, France and Germany all announced together that they would send infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine. US officials had already said that they would not send American-made M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, citing the vehicles’ burdensome maintenance requirements. However, Poland announced that it would supply Kiev with a number of German-made Leopard tanks, a decision that requires a green light from Berlin.

While the German government officially has no plans to donate any of its own Leopards, Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on Monday that he would not rule out such a step. Meanwhile, Kiev is confident that Germany’s apparent caution is illusory.

“Germany will do it anyway at a later date,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told the Tagesschau news channel on 11 January 2023. “We have already seen this with the self-propelled howitzers, with the IRIS-T anti-aircraft system and most recently with the Marder and Patriot systems.”

Britain’s decision was telegraphed to the media in recent days, with officials telling Sky News that Sunak’s government had been discussing the possibility for “a few weeks,” and that the UK “might offer around ten” tanks. According to Sky, an official announcement may be made by multiple countries on January 20, when the US-led ‘Contact Group’ for arming Ukraine is scheduled to meet next.

Britain was considering supplying a handful of Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, the first time a western country had indicated it may supply its homemade heavy armour to Kyiv in the war against Russia. An initial report from Sky News 09 January 2923 suggested the UK was considering supplying about 10 Challenger 2s, only a fraction of the 300 Kyiv wanted. No final decision by Downing Street had been made, British sources added, but Ukraine is hoping a positive move by the UK could help persuade Germany to follow suit later this month with its Leopard 2 battle tanks. But the reality is that the UK, with a total fleet of 227, had a small supply compared with what is made by Germany and the US. In 2022 the UK sent 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Poland as part of a deal to help Ukraine by freeing up capacity for Warsaw to supply its Soviet-era T-72 tanks to Kyiv.

A total of 386 Challenger 2 tanks and 22 Driver Training tanks based on the Challenger 2 chassis were originally ordered and received by the British Army. As of 27 September 2016 a total of 227 Challenger 2 tanks and the 22 Driver Training Tanks remained in service with the British Army. All of the Challenger 2 Tanks would be available for operational use if required. However it may help if I explain that the Army manages its vehicle fleets under the current fleet management model. The Army uses a four element approach; the first element of this model provides a limited number of permanently issued equipment for low-level training and competency, the second provides a training fleet to enable units to train together, (thisincludes permanently issued equipment to training areas such as the British Army Training Unit Suffield, in Canada), the third element provides equipment for deployment and contingent operations, and the fourth acts as a buffer, which enables the Army to sustain the first three elements as equipment enters deep maintenance, or is damaged beyond repair.

Under Army 2020, three Tank Regiments operating this MBT remained: The Queen's Royal Hussars, the King's Royal Hussars and Royal Tank Regiment plus a single Army Reserve regiment: The Royal Wessex Yeomanry. Unused Challengers were kept in storage. As of May 2021 Only 148 of the British Army's 227 Challenger 2 vehicles were to be upgraded, with the remainder expected to be placed in storage.

In May 2021, the United Kingdom Ministry of Defense announced the award of a contract to upgrade 148 of the 227 Challenger 2 tanks to the Challenger 3 level by Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land. The upgraded tank will receive a 120-mm smoothbore gun, an active protection system and improved electronics. It is planned to put the tanks into operation in 2027. At the same time, the fate of the remaining 79 combat vehicles remained unknown. Experts believed that the tanks could be sold or scrapped.

In May 2023, UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said that all the Challenger 2 tanks promised to Kiev had arrived in Ukraine. A squadron of 14 vehicle deliveries is unlikely to significantly shift the dynamic on the Ukrainian battlefield. “The Ukrainian military needs a more sustainable tank fleet. Supplying an artisanal quantity of the Challenger 2 is symbolic, but it’s not a sustainable option,” explained Shashank Joshi, defence editor at the Economist and visiting fellow at Kings College London. “The main question is, what is happening to the Leopard 2s all over Europe?”

Challenger skeptics said the Ukrainian military first received warning signs about the combat potential of its British armor in January 2023, when the top brass of the Britain’s armed forces reportedly explicitly told their Ukrainian counterparts to avoid deploying the tanks in areas where they could be captured or destroyed by Russian forces. “Step one is the training and working with mission planners to try to ensure the Challengers are not used in scenarios where they think that collapse [of the front] is a realistic possibility. Step two is making sure, at the tactical level, [that] the Ukrainians are trained to recover a tank under fire,” a defense source said at the time. The demands placed on Ukrainian tankers to take special care of their expensive British equipment raised questions about whether they would even be able to use them on the frontlines, given the constant risk of destruction and capture. British Challenger 2 tanks will not be able to significantly help the Ukrainian army on the battlefield due to numerous shortcomings, the American Military Watch magazine reported 05 March 2023. "The shortcomings of this tank can reduce its real use on the battlefield to a minimum - especially if you remember with what pomp the decision to supply it was arranged and how they are waiting for it on the front line". One of the challenges of the Challenger 2, as pointed out by the magazine, is that this tank, unlike its modern Western and Russian counterparts, still uses a rifled gun. This significantly reduces the power and accuracy of ammunition and limits compatibility with the projectiles used by Western fighting vehicles such as the Leopard 2, which can cause it to become unusable during battle quite quickly."

“In terms of protection, despite the well-armored turret, the Challenger 2’s hull is plain steel armor with no composites or dynamic protection. This does not go well with the lack of ejection panels or blast-resistant ammunition hatches: it turns out that a single hit can lead to a catastrophic detonation," the authors noted. In addition, the tank does not have any high-explosive shells used against infantry, is equipped with outdated thermal imagers, and is too heavy to maintain, so it is unlikely that the Challenger 2 will really be able to help the Ukrainian army against Russian troops.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces have encountered difficulties in using Challenger 2 tanks because of London's requirements for their operation and maintenance, according to military analyst Drago Bosnic. He also highlighted that the British command is now seeking assurances from Kiev that no British-supplied Challenger 2s will be used in risky operations, lest they be destroyed or captured by the Russian military. "This includes special requests for storage to prevent long-range strikes, which effectively makes the 'Challenger 2' the most pampered weapon system in the conflict," Drago Bosnic said.

"It seems the UK is now 'expressing frustration' at the way its main battle tanks are being used, complaining that the 'guarantees' given by the Kiev regime forces are 'simply insufficient.' Afraid of heavy losses, as demonstrated by the disastrous performance of German tanks, long considered the best in NATO," he said. "With this in mind, fielding the much heavier Western-made tanks such as the 'Challenger 2' (and other NATO-sourced armor) has proven to be not only militarily useless for the Kiev regime, but also quite deadly for countless forcibly conscripted Ukrainians that have been pointlessly killed during recent counteroffensive operations against the Russian military," he added.

Weighing in at between 64 and 75 tons (depending on armor configuration), the Challenger 2 is among the heaviest tanks in NATO’s arsenal. That means simply moving about, particularly in areas not suitable for heavy tanks due to mud, rivers, narrow streets and bridges and other natural and man-made obstacles, can be a challenge. In addition, being carried long distances will require the assistance of special tank carriers, bridge layers and engineering services which must always be kept nearby – and again at risk of Russian artillery or aerial attack. On top of that are the tank’s dimensions. 8.3 meters long, 3.5 meters wide and standing 2.49 meters tall, the Challenger 2 isn’t exactly a stealth tank, and can be seen approaching from up to several kilometers away in an open field (and far further from the air).

Even against conventional anti-tank weapons (like enemy tank guns and man-portable anti-tank missiles) the Challenger 2 will be under constant threat by Russian forces. For one thing, the Challenger 2 is the only modern main battle tank without a smoothbore gun, with its L30A1 120 mm rifled main gun design less precise, and less powerful, than its Russian analogues – and incompatible with NATO tank gun munitions to boot.

Secondly, although the tank’s few operational deployments have limited opportunities for enemy forces to test the Challenger 2’s defensive armor and active protection systems using man-portable anti-tank missiles, comparable tanks, including the Leopard 2, the Abrams, and the Israeli Merkava, have proven just as vulnerable to Russian-made anti-tank systems like the Kornet as any other mass-produced armored vehicle.

Russian military observers expect the entire Ukrainian Challenger 2 tank company (plus complement of engineering and recovery vehicles) attached to the 82nd Brigade to be grouped together into a single unit, given that splitting the company up into platoons and using them in various directions would dilute their fire potential, and cause headaches related to repair, logistics and evacuation.

Given the loss of hundreds of Ukrainian tanks over the past two months, including up to 30 Leopard 2s of various modifications, 14 Challenger 2s in and of themselves cannot be expected to turn the tide of Kiev’s flagging counteroffensive, says military intelligence veteran, Hero of Russia and reserve colonel Rustem Klupov. "Most likely, these tanks will be destroyed in the same way that Leopards have burned. Because in modern warfare, having 14 tanks on the battlefield cannot solve anything, and secondly, cannot provide an objective picture of whether this is a good or bad machine," Klupov told Sputnik.

Ukraine's Challenger 2s were supposed to be a strategic reserve, "to be introduced during a breakthrough," Klupov noted. "Military science teaches us that a breakthrough is first made, and then the best mechanized units with the most powerful types of weapons are introduced into it to make enveloping or dissecting maneuvers across a broad distance. This is what the Germans and the Soviet Army did during World War II." But in the proxy conflict in Ukraine, Russia's defenses have "mixed up all of [the enemy's] cards," with Ukrainian forces, for a "number of reasons both objective and subjective," failing not only to break through Russian positions, but "even overcome the security strip" separating Ukrainian and Russian lines, Klupov summed up.