The British Army Just Brought 69 Challenger 2 Tanks Out of Storage and Into Service: They Are Likely Already Obsolete

The British Army has expanded its fleet of main battle tanks by 32 percent, after bringing 69 Challenger 2 tanks out of storage and into service, which has brought the total fleet size up to 288 tanks from just 219 in late 2024. This was revealed in the annual statistical release on UK armed forces equipment in late October. Although close to 450 Challenger 2s were produced from 1986-1993, of which only 38 were built for export, the British Army was at the time almost double its current size, at 154,000 personnel and 1600 tanks compared to approximately 80,000 active personnel today. The large majority of the vehicles have thus for years been in storage, with further cuts to the active fleet to just 148 tanks having been planned. The decision to expand the fleet has been taken at a time when British forces have for years been heavily involved in active hostilities with Russia in the Ukrainian theatre, including the Royal Marines who have been on the frontlines since early 2022, as well as SAS units, advisors, logisticians and technical specialists.

The capabilities of the Challenger 2 have been repeatedly brought to question, including by British experts, Ukrainain crews who have used the vehicles in high intensity combat, and Russian experts. The tank’s fire controls are considered far from cutting edge, with its reliance on first generation thermal sights, compared to the third generation sights used on more modern vehicles such as the Russian T-90M and South Korean K2, being a major shortcoming. Reliance on a rifled rather than a smoothbore gun has resulted in a significantly poorer penetrative capability against enemy armour. Ukrainian crews have also considered the tank to be underpowered, with its 1,200 horsepower engine resulting in a poor power/weight ratio for the 70 ton vehicles. CEO of Russian defence and technology giant Rostec Sergey Chemezov in June singled out the Challenger 2 for its particularly poor capabilities compared to the rival American M1A1 Abrams and German Leopard 2A6.

Former British Army officer and prominent defence commentator Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Crawford in October observed that the Challenger 2 was built around a “now obsolete design philosophy,” and that “current generation of Western main battle tanks, Leopard 2, M1A2 Abrams, and now CR3, are increasingly seen as too large, heavy, costly, and vulnerable to justify further development along traditional lines.” He highlighted that issues with the vehicle’s unsatisfactory mobility are set to be exacerbated by plans to upgrade them to the Challenger 3 standard, which will increase their weights to 80 tons while relying on the same already underpowered engines.

Regarding the Challenger 2’s layout, Crawford observed that “the traditional three-crew turret layout is outdated when autoloaders and remote turrets are widely available.” He added that future tanks “are likely to follow Russia’s T-14 Armata model, with crews enclosed in armoured capsules within the hull. This approach reduces the vehicle’s profile and weight.” While the Chinese Type 100 is currently the only operational tank type build around such a design concept, the Challenger 2 is on the opposite side of the spectrum of tanks, which is expected to leave it particularly poorly suited for combat in the era of drone warfare and loitering munitions. The tank has taken significant losses in the Ukrainian theatre despite its very limited deployments on the frontlines, with the much more intensive use of the American M1A1 and German Leopard 2 resulting in much higher attrition rates.