‘Sources’ Claim UK Could Give Challenger 2 Tanks to Ukraine
Challenger 2 tank
James TweedieWhile Western countries have sent a bewildering hodgepodge of Soviet-era weaponry, NATO-standard artillery and lightly-armoured patrol vehicles to the Kiev regime, none have yet risked pitting their main battle tanks against Russian forces.Western and Ukrainian ‘sources’ have claimed the British government is mulling a donation of its best tanks to Kiev to fight Russian forces.The anonymous briefings to British TV news suggested Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government could donate 10 Challenger 2 main battle tanks (MBTs).”It would encourage others to give tanks,” said the Ukrainian source. “It will be a good precedent to demonstrate others — to Germany first of all, with their Leopards… and Abrams from the United States.”US President Joe Biden approved the supply of 50 M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) — lightly-armoured troop carriers mounting an autocannon and anti-tank missiles in a turret — and talked German Chancellor Olaf Scholz into adding 40 Marder IFVs last week. The latest dispatches came after French President Emmanuel Macron pledged an unspecified number of AMX-10 RC light tanks, reportedly up to 30, to his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.Eastern European nations have supplied hundreds of Soviet-era tanks to Kiev, types familiar to the Ukrainian army and which fire the same ammunition. But sending the supposedly more-advanced British, US and German tanks has been seen as a ‘red line’ in NATO member states, especially by Scholz.However, Polish and Finnish ministers have tentatively offered to supply some of their German-made Leopard 2 or US M1 Abrams tanks if the major Western powers take the lead.The Ministry of Defence did not confirm or deny the reports but merely reiterated it had “provided over 200 armoured vehicles to Ukraine to date — including Stormer vehicles armed with Starstreak missiles.”
Russia’s Special Operation in UkrainePoll: Almost Half of Germans Opposing Sending Tanks to Ukraine25 December 2022, 13:56 GMTLike most western MBTs, the Challenger 2 is at least 50 per cent heavier than the latest Russian equivalents, as well as significantly longer and taller without boasting a more powerful gun or better armour protection. With add-on explosive-reactive and slat armour, the tank weighs in at 74 tonnes — compared to 48 tonnes for the Russian T-90M already fighting in the Donbass. No new Challenger 2s have been produced since 2002, 21 years ago. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace revealed in March 2021 that 148 of the British Army’s 227 operational tanks would be upgraded to the new Challenger 3 specification at a cost of around £1.3 billion — nearly £9 million per vehicle.The UK and manufacturer Bae Systems have less at stake if the tanks are destroyed in combat, since the only export customer for the Challenger 2 is Oman. By contrast, the US has export M1 Abrams tanks to eight other countries, while 21 have bought the Leopard 2. Poland, which has already supplied at least 230 T-72 tanks to Ukraine, is set to have a mix of Leopard 2, Abrams and South Korean K2 Black Panther tanks in service.
