25th Airborne Brigade may receive Challenger 2 tanks

President Volodymyr Zelensky and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak arrived at a military base in Dorset, Southern England.

According to Militarny, they had to meet with the Ukrainian military, which is trained by the British army.

Zelensky was shown Challenger 2 Driver Training Tanks (DTT) used for tanks crews training.

Soldiers from the 25th Airborne Brigade appear in the photo, which was taken on the military base. Supposedly, the tankers of this particular brigade may receive new British tanks at the end of the training.

The UK Ministry of Defence plans to supply Ukraine with 14 Challenger 2 tanks by the end of March 2023.

“We plan that it will be at the end of March,” Ministry of Defense official Alex Chalk stated in parliament.

Until then, the Ukrainian military will get intensive training in equipment operation and maintenance.

Challenger 2

The Challenger 2 is a British third generation main battle tank in service with the armies of the United Kingdom and Oman. It is designed and built by the British company Vickers Defence Systems.

The vehicle is equipped with a L30A1 55-caliber barrel long 120mm rifled tank gun. The tank has a modern fire control system.

The aiming cycle lasts only 8 seconds. A well-trained crew is able to hit about seven targets in a minute. During exercises and tests, some crews hit eight targets in 42 seconds.

The ammunition of the 120-mm gun has sub-caliber armor-piercing, fin-stabilized, discarding sabot projectiles and high-explosive, as well as smoke and training shots.

The ammunition of the machine includes modern L26 CHARM 1 sub-caliber armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS) with armor penetration up to 580 mm thick and L27 CHARM 3 with armor penetration up to 700 mm thick, capable of hitting all modern tanks in service with the Russian Federation.

Additional armament includes a L94A1 7.62mm coaxial machine gun. At the commander hatch, a remotely controlled L37A2 7.62 mm machine gun is installed on the turret.

The tank is equipped with two thermal imagers for the gunner and commander.