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Chieftain MBT

1965 COLD WAR MAIN BATTLE TANK MODERN

History

The original 1945 Centurion (A41) MBT was a very successful initiative of the British Army, introduced during World War II and realized shortly after the conflict ended. The type served in the Korean War under the UN banner and subsequently saw extensive action in both Indo-Pakistani wars. The type performed well during the Six-Day War and the upcoming Yom Kippur War, when extra service brought them into the hands of the Israeli army. A total of around 4,400 were eventually produced (a high number of Cold War tanks), which were well beyond the British Army's stockpile and were used by European powers and Middle Eastern players.

In its inception, the Chieftain was the most powerful western main battle tank in existence until it was replaced by the equally excellent German Leopard 2 series in the 1980s.

Despite the dominance of the Centurion, the Cold War battlefield was an evolving technology-driven chessboard, which resulted in more efficient weapons. As a result, the powerful nature of a once-mighty tank like the Centurion soon began to give way to new anti-tank measures developed and deployed primarily by the Soviet Union - many of these weapons would inevitably be passed on to the Allies for some time And the satellite country. Thus, the search for "the next main battle tank of the British Army" began, which led to the Leyland-designed tracked vehicle fitted with the new powerful 120mm L11 series main gun. While the historical approach to British armour placed the greatest emphasis on speed and maneuverability on the battlefield, Leyland's submission was resolutely focused on heavy armoured vehicles with firepower.

By 1959, one pilot vehicle was ready for formal review, which led to the evaluation of six other prototypes built between 1961 and 1962. The car - known as the "FV 4201" - entered service in May 1963 and began to enter service in 1965.

Production is managed through two separate assembly lines, ultimately including the Leyland and Vickers brands.

Externally, the Chieftain is a traditional design approach with a crew of four, a 360-degree turret housing the primary armament, and a rear-mounted engine. Like other vehicles in this class, the Chieftain uses a steeply raked, almost horizontal pane of glass leading to a flat hull roof. The driver sat in the center of the fuselage in front of the turret ring. The remaining three crew members - the tank commander, gunner and loader - occupy positions within the turret assembly.

The commander and gunner are traditionally grouped with the commander and sit on the right side of the turret, with the loader on the left. The cast turret itself is well formed, steeply sloping and low, with the main barrel at the front and a pronounced trubel mount at the rear. The commander and loader each had an access hatch on top of the turret, and the driver also had a hatch on the front hull. When the fuel tank is "buckled", the driver is driving almost lying down.

The running gear consists of six wheels on one side of the track, with the drive sprocket at the rear and the track idler at the front. Track deflection rollers guide the upper track section.

The upper part of the tracks and the hull are usually protected with armored skirts that hide the recoil rollers and most of each running wheel - this is now generally accepted protection, first implemented on a large scale in main battle tanks during World War II . A pair of headlights at the front of the hull facilitate nighttime driving. Lockers for personal crew items and general mission equipment are located above each fender, as well as storage baskets and storage boxes on either side of the turret.

In later brands, the NBC (Nuclear Biochemical) protection system was installed for the entire crew (the unit was mounted outside the rear of the turret), and the commander, gunner and driver got night vision goggles improved Low light performance.

Despite excellent quality elsewhere, the real "heart and soul" of the Chieftain system is undoubtedly its 120mm L11 series towed main gun. The gun is connected to a very precise fire control system that provides precise fire at long distances and "on the move".

In contrast, the earlier Centurion got the smaller but still excellent main gun of the L7 105mm series. With Western tanks now pitted against increasingly powerful Soviet tanks, such weapons could soon find their way into the modern battlefield. The L11 main gun has an elevation range of -10 to +20 and fires a variety of approved ammunition types.

These include Armor Piercing Fin Stabilized Shells (APFSDS), Armor Piercing Shells (APDS), High Explosive Squash Head Shells (HESH) and regular smoke grenades. Thus, the Chieftain's crew can attack both "hard" and "soft" targets as needed. The Fire Control System (FCS) is fully digital and the main gun is fully stabilized. In addition to the main gun, there is a coaxial 7.62mm L7 machine gun (basically a British replica of the Belgian FN MAG) mounted in the turret designed to deter enemy infantry. A second 7.62mm machine gun was mounted on the commander's cupola for defense against infantry and low-flying threats.

To cover the tank's offensive or defensive operations from enemy gunners, the Chief also received 12 electric smoke grenade launchers, mounted in two groups of six, one group mounted on the front of each turret. 64 rounds of 120mm ammunition are stored around the Chieftain's turret and hull, along with 6,000 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition (early Chieftain production tanks also deployed 12.7mm "range" machine guns, which received 300 rounds of 12.7mm ammunition).

120mm Ammunition is contained in a watertight cargo hold containing bagged and loaded ammunition to prevent accidental explosions from direct hits or internal fires.

The initial mention of the 12.7mm heavy machine gun for range finding was eventually replaced by the aptly named "Tank Laser Sight" (TLS) system, which served the same purpose, albeit in a more technical way.

Leyland developed the L60 multi-fuel compression ignition engine, rated at 750 hp at 2,100 rpm, and it was this system that powered the eventual Chieftain brand. This allows the vehicle to reach a top speed of 30 mph on ideal road surfaces and lower on rough off-road terrain.

The range is between 250 and 280 miles, depending on terrain and driving habits. For obvious reasons, a fire suppression system was installed in the engine compartment. Profile-wise, the powerplant forces the addition of the engine bay, but in no way compromises performance or the relatively low overall profile of the fuel tank itself - including the turret. The vehicle can traverse water up to 1,066 meters (aided by integrated "splash panels" marked around and ahead of the driver's area) and traverse 3,149 deep trenches.

Even 60% gradients can be mastered. The hull was built on the basis of Hortsmann Defense Systems Ltd. Horstmann suspension system developed. If the Chieftain has a limit, it's that it opted for a multi-fuel engine design that reportedly never achieved the expected performance levels expected.

The first Chieftain production brand was the Mk 1, which was in service with 40 examples delivered from 1965, mainly for trials and tanker training. The Mk 2 became the first running models, which were equipped with a 650-horsepower Leyland engine.

A new Commander cupola was developed, an improved engine was introduced and additional equipment was added to produce the Mk 3 variant. The final Chieftain final production model became the Mk 5, these added NBC protection in turret operation and further improved the engine.

The Mk 6, Mk 7, Mk 8 and Mk 9 brands are essentially upgrades of earlier production models, introducing an improved engine. The Mk 10 below is an upgraded version based on the Mk 9, with the "Stillbrew Crew Protection Package" (SCPP) and an improved fire control system installed on the turret. The Mk 11 itself is an upgraded version of the Mk 10, replacing the original infrared/white light searchlights with Barr & Stroud's Thermal Observation and Firing System (TOGS). TOGS allows for severe weather and night combat capabilities, which predictably expand the Chief's tactical range for the better. The Mk 12 and Mk 13 variants were proposed for the Chieftain upgrade, which would see additional improvements throughout, but those marks were caused by the arrival of the preeminent Challenger 2 series of main battle tanks.

The Chieftain 900 is an advanced Chieftain derivative protected by the Chobham armour, a special type of composite armour developed by the United Kingdom at Chobham Commons in Surrey.

900 Chieftain tanks were eventually produced for the British Army. It was accepted and used by one of the largest military powers at the time, and inevitably aroused the interest of allies seeking more modern MBT solutions. As a result, the Chieftain series also proved to be a success in terms of exports, starting with Kuwait purchasing 175 units (these were Chieftain "Mk 5TK" models). Operators include Iran and Iraq (captured examples of Iran), Jordan (as the "Shir 1"/"Khalid" series), and Oman. Iran is by far the sheikh's largest foreign operator, receiving 707 prototypes in the form of MBT, AVLB and ARV before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Jordan received 274 units. Oman manages 27 (12 refurbished ex-British Army and 15 new as 'Qayd al Ardh'), preserved from the early to mid 1980s.

During the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, Iraq captured about 100 chiefs and operated on at least 30 of them for a period of time before handing them over to Jordan. The Iranians upgraded their sheikhs to the newer "Mobarez" standard.

Like other MBT systems before it, the Chieftain's chassis and hull are suitable for a wider range of battlefield applications, including bulldozer variants, minesweepers, armored recovery vehicles (FV4204 ARV), bridge layers (FV4205 AVLB). ), Armored Recovery Repair Vehicle (FV4204 ARRV) and Armored Vehicle Royal Engineers (AVRE). Like previous MBT entries, the Chieftain's derivative outlasted the original battleship by decades. The Chieftain chassis is also the basis for the Chieftain "Sharpshooter" self-propelled anti-aircraft vehicle, on which the "Sharpshooter" series turret with a 2 x 35 mm gun is mounted.

The Chief Sabre has a similar circumference and is equipped with a turret with 2 x 30mm guns for mobile anti-aircraft.

By 1996, the Chieftain MBT had been phased out of frontline service with the British Army, replaced by the Challenger 1 and Challenger 2 series tanks. However, many of the battlefield masks it produced remained in service for a while afterwards, proving their worth, and then some followed suit in action.

The Challenger 1 went live in 1983 before being replaced by the more powerful Challenger 2 in 1998.