James Jeffrey

Ukraine is lucky to have Britain’s Challenger 2 tanks

(Photo: Getty)

I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips, straining upon the start. So wrote William Shakespeare in Henry V. He could well have been writing about the British Army’s main battle tank, the mighty 62-tonne behemoth that is Challenger 2, which is now being sent to Ukraine. 

The Challenger 2 is a weighty sort of greyhound. But ‘Chally’, as it was affectionately known by those of us crewing it, could really move. It had close to that ideal balance all tank designers are aiming for, providing protection, manoeuvrability and firepower (each of which deteriorates when you improve one of the others). 

Soon after I finished my tank commander’s course, fighting pixilated Russian tanks and infantry-carrying vehicles in the gunnery simulator, the Chally was sent to Iraq. It got a chance at the beginning in 2003 to show what it could do during the first days of the invasion. But by the time I first went to Iraq in 2004, a Chally tended to be plopped in front of the camp gate if there was intelligence of a potential vehicle-borne suicide bomber. Or it would accompany convoys and oversee arrest operations by infantry. It got older. Military equipment ages like dog years, certainly in the eyes of defence contractors. Chally is 25 years old now. All the while there was much talk of the tank’s day being over on the modern battlefield. The British Army shrank its numbers massively.

Now, though, Ukraine is after tanks. When it has broken through the Russian lines, it has not been able to exploit the breakthrough and push further. This is something that tanks are perfect at, as they are able to move at speed while engaging multiple enemy targets on the move. Which is why Zelensky is looking for M1 Abrams from the US, Leopard 2s from Germany, and so far has been given 14 Challys by the UK.

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