Why is the challenger 2 the best tank in the world?

Answer 1

There are many modern tanks in the world which outperform the Challenger 2 on specification. Though the question is very subjective and opinionated. People will perceive the tank to be great since it replaced the Challenger 1 (MBT) which has the longest tank-on-tank kill in the world. In Gulf War 1 where it successfully hit an Iraqi tank several miles away in the 1991 war.

The Challenger 2 is equipped with the latest generation of Chobham armour, the Dorchester variant (Third generation), the latest in the series of the composite armour. It is reported that the armour uses several layers of ceramic materials wedged between layers of steel. The armour itself is considered successful since it is used in the latest generation of US-made M1 Abram tanks. Though all generations of Chobam armour are classified. There have additionally however been incidents where the armour has been penetrated by Russian made anti-tank weaponry and mines.

There have been two incidents where the armour was reported to have been penetrated:

• For example in 2007 a Challenger 2 had been penetrated by an RPG-29 which defeated the tanks explosive re-active armour (ERA) which caused the driver of the tank to lose half of his foot.
• Other incidents include an improvised explosive device (IED) penetrating the tank causing the driver of the tank to lose both his legs.

These incidents called on the UK's Ministry of Defence(MoD) to upgrade the Challenger 2's armour specification. The upgrade was called "Theatre Entry Standard" or TES which added bolt-on armour to protect the tracks, and frontal armour to protect the front-arc of the tank of where it had originally been penetrated. - Among other upgrades.

However the first Challenger 2 to be destroyed in combat was in March 2003. It was a blue-on-blue incident where another Challenger 2 tank had hit its own friendly tanks hatch which then caused hot metals to flow into the stowed ammunition which then caused the tank to blow up internally.

Though the tank has faced problems. The Challenger 2 has performed well as a BBC report said in one incident in Iraq that a Challenger 2 tank had been hit by 70 RPG's and a Milan anti-tank missile to which it returned to combat the next day since its optics had been disrupted.