British Army unveils Challenger 3 Main Battle Tank

The British Army’s Challenger 2 is already considered among the best main battle tanks (MBTs) in service today in the world. It entered service in the late 1990s to replace the aging Challenger 1, and was quickly deployed to support peacekeeping operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo. The Challenger 2 was first used in combat in March 2003 during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. The 120 tanks of the British Army’s 7th Armoured Brigade, part of the 1st Armoured Division, went into action around Basra, where the MBTs saw extensive use during the siege of the city, providing fire support to the British forces and knocking out significant numbers of Iraqi tanks, mainly T-54/55s.

It was only last fall that a Challenger 2 was lost in combat — one of the 20 British MBTs supplied to Ukraine to support its war against Russia.

Though the Challenger 2 has more than been proven to be a reliable platform on the modern battlefield, in 2021, the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced that it was developing its replacement.

The Challenger 3 was officially unveiled at the Defence iQ’s International Armoured Vehicles (IAV) 2024 conference in London in January. The new MBT was developed and designed by Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land (RBSL), a joint venture between the United Kingdom’s BAE Systems and Germany’s Rheinmetall AG.

A total of 18 months of trials, which will be split between sites in the UK and Germany, are now planned before the systems qualifications review takes place in 2025. Eight prototypes are also expected to be developed and employed in the testing.

“The Challenger 3 program will deliver the best tank in NATO … and deliver a network enabled, digital main battle tank, providing the soldier with a step-changing capability, ensuring a 21st century deterrence through to the out of service date [slated for 2040],” Rory Breen, strategy and future business director at RBSL, told Breaking Defense. “The first prototype … will begin trials in the coming weeks.”

The MoD had initiated the Challenger 2 Life Extension Programme (LEP) to address the need for upgrading and extending the life of MBTs. That subsequently led to the development of the Challenger 3, which features several advanced upgrades and improvements that could make it a formidable platform on the modern battlefield. It will also offer greater mobility, protection, and firepower, while the MBT is also equipped with an all-new and fully digitized turret and improved hull. Moreover, the Challenger 3 will be equipped with a new suite of sights that can provide tank commanders with improved day and night targeting capabilities, improving the tank’s protection, and increased mobility with an upgraded engine and new hydrogas suspension.

The most significant change from Challenger 2 to Challenger 3 is the replacement of its primary armament from a 120mm L30A1 Rifled main gun to the 120mm L55A1 smoothbore gun. Secondary armament reportedly will consist of a single coaxial 7.62mm L8A2 machine gun mounted to the left of the main armament, while a 7.62 mm L37A2 machine gun can also be mounted at the commander’s cupola. Unlike Russian-designed tanks, which employ an autoloader, the Challenger 3 will feature a crew of four including the commander, gunner, loader, and driver.

In May 2021, the MoD awarded a contract for 148 Challenger 3s as part of an £800 million ($1 billion) contract with RBSL. The MoD expects the Challenger 3 MBT to enter service by 2030, and serve as the backbone of the British Army’s armored forces in the coming decades, replacing the aging Challenger 2 tank fleet.