Some things do not change - us Brits producing bad tanks

Yuri0352

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Too bad that the article does not include an image of the 'tank' in question. The photo of the 'tank' with the article appears to be that of a Warrior IFV.
 

witchbottles

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Here is a few different versions. Looks much like taking the side armor skirts of a Leopard and welding them onto a redesigned Bradley hull and turret, then remove the turret and bolt on some old side armor sheeting from the Whipple tanks for "spaced armor" in the APC and tank recovery vehicle roles.

hard for me to see anything particularly " new" in this design. It will, much like the F35 program, standardize many of the supply chain requirements over the next decade, once it is being accepted for service.
 

Yuri0352

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Based only on the photos (and with no dimensional measurements at hand) it would appear that the Ajax is nearly the same height, width and length as the Challenger. Considering the Ajax' probable lower level of armor protection, and much less powerful main armament, I am wondering if this vehicle is being seriously considered as a replacement for the Challenger MBT.
 

Nineteen Kilo

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A buddy of mine told me you folks were thinking of retiring the Challenger and replacing with Leopards? Can any of you Brits shed some light on that rumor?
 

von Marwitz

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A buddy of mine told me you folks were thinking of retiring the Challenger and replacing with Leopards? Can any of you Brits shed some light on that rumor?
I don't believe the British would ever do that even if the German tank were ten times better than anything the British could field themselves.

Even after more than 80 years, bytimes the Brits are prone to fall back on 'pushing back the Hun invasion' lingo in their yellow press for any topic from sports to politics. I believe they would take it as sort of a national humiliation (or a Hun invasion of sorts...) to buy a German tank instead of one of their own. It would just not do.

von Marwitz
 

Robin Reeve

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British actively cooperate with other nations in military projects.
But UK has its own military industry and it is quite logical to encourage it.
Keep away from xenophobic statements, von M.
And remember that UK is part of the NATO, so is an ally to the Germans.
 

von Marwitz

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British actively cooperate with other nations in military projects.
But UK has its own military industry and it is quite logical to encourage it.
Keep away from xenophobic statements, von M.
And remember that UK is part of the NATO, so is an ally to the Germans.
Robin, I think you are reading a lot more into my post than is due.

von Marwitz
 

Yuri0352

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British actively cooperate with other nations in military projects.
But UK has its own military industry and it is quite logical to encourage it.
Keep away from xenophobic statements, von M.
And remember that UK is part of the NATO, so is an ally to the Germans.
And I would add that there is no evidence that the UK military and law enforcement establishments are opposed to adopting German weapons to equip their personnel. Units of the British military and police have been using the Heckler & Koch MP-5 series of weapons for the better part of the past 40 years, and the British Army has recently adopted the Glock 17 (Austrian made) as a new service pistol.

...Not to mention the Eurofighter.
 

Old Noob

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I'm assuming that Witchbottles picture is the original Challenger model [no CMG]?
 

witchbottles

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yep, the Valiant - used by the Armor School students as a day examining an AFV, while creating a list of everything they can see that is wrong with the design. (It takes a big notebook).

Perhaps the most glaring is that the gun mantlet is INSIDE the turret. Can anyone say "spall city"??
 

Old Noob

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Thank you for the answer, both of you.
Sometimes a tank design is a beautiful theory, murdered by a gang of ugly facts. (Ian Hogg)
 
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