Posted on 08/27/2020 11:06:26 AM PDT by RomanSoldier19
The British Army's Challenger 2 tank is already old.
In 2019 the then defence secretary, Penny Mordaunt, went as far as to suggest it was obsolete. She noted: "Challenger 2 has been in service without a major upgrade since 1998.
"During this time the US, Germany and Denmark have completed two major upgrades, whilst Russia has fielded five new variants, with a sixth pending."
Previous defence reviews have also seen tank numbers slashed from more than 500. Theoretically, the Army still has 227 Challenger 2 tanks. But in reality only about half of those are out of storage and ready to be deployed.
The Army has been looking at a number of options to modernise its fleet of tanks for almost a decade. They include buying German Leopard 2 tanks, or modernising the Challenger 2 with a new turret and gun.
But senior Army officers have also confirmed to the BBC that they've recently been considering whether they could do without them altogether. While mothballing them could also be an option, there seems to be little point in storing old tanks - unless they're for a museum.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Tank responded “word, i’m straight up gangsta”
It’s a tankless job, but someone has to do it.
It’s a tankless job, but someone has to do it.
It’s a trend. The US Marines are dumping their tanks also.
Maintaining an armored force is expensive. The UK may not be able to afford to maintain one anymore.
That’s because the Marines are going more seamobile and focusing on fighting in the Pacific in future, and the M1 has gotten so heavy that even the largest landing craft we have, the LCAC, can only carry one to the beach per trip. Pretty bad.
Well for goodness sakes, let the Old Challengers go out with a bang.
Parade them through the Chunnel, churn up the roads to Calais and expend the now obsolete munitions to blast the living hell out of the ‘immigrant’ encampments.
Maybe get some disgruntled farmers and yellow jackets to join up in the drive to liberate Paris once again.
They look more like late morning pj’s.
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I would imagine a fleet of lower-cost, armed drones, might better serve the purpose for which tanks are used in a lot of cases
That said, I’d be happy to take a tank or two off their hands and drive it around my property....
I’ve read that the British army now has more generals than tanks. This is a great advantage! Should a major war break out, each British tank would be commanded not by a sergeant or a lieutenant, but by a general!
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2045226/British-Army-generals-tanks-stuffed-penpushers.html
lol...
Happens every couple of decades or so. Some new whizz bang general thinks that they have the “right” idea for the next future battle.
Heavy down grades to motorized, then the next cycle it is motorized down grading to light and then it is light to augmented (with heavy) and then back to heavy.
It is all on the wheel
The M-1 has become a mega beast. I was looking one over at the local truck stop the other day. All kinds of bolt on reactive armor and defensive items. there is currently a regular flow of them in my part of the world. Headed for some rework project at the nearby depot.
They need to stay away from the Arjun. It’s such a piece of junk that the Indian army would rather buy decades old Russian designs than use it.
Best tanks out there are the current Abrams and Leopards. Following that would probably be the Merkava and the Armata. The LeClerc and the T-90 are probably on par with the Challenger.
The Mitsubishi and Hyundai tanks might be worth looking at.
That would be the general refit/rebuild that needs to be done periodically, plus the hasty retrofitting of the Israeli Trophy APS.
If there is a dust up somewhere, just send in the mass band and pipes of the Royal Regiment of Scotland and the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (minus their tanks). Problem resolved.
whether they could do without tanks altogether
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Nothing new there ... just ask their Navy
The Abrams has the problem that at current it’s had a ton of retrofits and it’s starting to be a bit more compromised than is good for it. The hastily tacked on Trophy APS is necessary, but it too isn’t as good as it could be because it’s not really integrated into the tank. The lack of an autoloader or semi-autoloader is also becoming an issue; there is some thought that the lack of a main gun missile is also a drawback.
At 70 tons, it is also *very* heavy and there’s a lot of places on the planet it can’t go as a result.
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