Leaked suggestions include a reduction in aircraft numbers for the Royal Air Force, and the retirement of the Army’s main battle tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. If recent press articles are anything to go by, it would be easy to assume that the only object of the integrated Review is to work out how to further hollow-out Britain’s Armed Forces. What the British Army can learn from how other NATO ground forces are organized?Ĭurrently the UK Government is undertaking a comprehensive review of its foreign policy, overseas development, defence and security needs. Learning from how our Allies’ armies are organized Many of the parts and production lines for the Challenger 2 have closed since it first entered service with the British Army in 1998, leaving stored platforms as the only resource for spare parts.A controversial but interesting guest article that looks at how various NATO alliance members and partners organise their armies to suggest ways in which the British Army could deliver more combat power within its existing headcount cap. Taking current numbers and discounting vehicles in storage, a theoretical increase could be for as few as nine extra Challenger 3 tanks, should the refreshed IR and DCP deem the planned 148 upgraded tanks to be insufficient.Ĭhallenger 2 tanks still in storage will be in a range of conditions, from those that need considerable working up before being made ready for operations, to platforms that have been cannibalised for spare parts and in effect unserviceable.
Given the current numbers of Challenger 2 tanks available for operations, and the materiel state of the remaining 70 vehicles in storage, it is not clear how many more could be upgraded. Speaking in Parliament, the UK Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace said that part of the assessment will be to determine whether more than 148 Challenger 2 tanks would be upgraded to the Challenger 3. However, in light of the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war, which has seen the massed used of armour as well as countermeasures such as loitering munitions and improved dismounted anti-tank weapons, the UK is undertaking a ‘refresh’ of the IR and DCP. In the UK’s 2021 Integrated Review (IR) and Defence Command Paper (DCP), it was revealed that 148 of the country’s Challenger 2 MBTs would be upgraded to a Challenger 3 variant, featuring active protection systems, improved sensors and optics, as well as a new turret and the Rheinmetall L55A1 120mm smoothbore gun.
Ukrainian forces have begun operational training on the Challenger 2, with the platform potentially ready to deploy to Ukraine by the end of the month.
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