Royal Tank Regiment Challenger 2 Theatre Entry Standard (CR2 TES) with Mobile Camouflage System (MCS) At Tankfest 2017. The name “Megatron” is a nickname given to the vehicle and at one stage had the Transformers logo added. It is a regular addition to the Tank Museums annual show “Tankfest” and has participated in arena displays. In addition to the new MCS the tank is protected by Theatre Entry Standard Chobham and Dorchester armour plus bar armour and an ECM suite. The FV4034 Challenger 2 is a British amain battle tank (MBT) in service with the armies of the United Kingdom and Oman. It was designed and built by the British company Vickers Defence Systems (now known as BAE Systems Land & Armaments).
The Challenger 2 is equipped with a 120-millimetre (4.7 in) 55-calibre long L30A1 tank gun, the successor to the L11 gun used on the Chieftain and Challenger 1. Unique among NATO main battle tank armament, the L30A1 is rifled, because the British Army continues to place a premium on the use of High-explosive squash head (HESH) rounds in addition to armour-piercing fin-stabilised discarding-sabot rounds. The Challenger 2 is also armed with a L94A1 EX-34 7.62 mm chain gun and a 7.62 mm L37A2 (GPMG) machine gun. Fifty eight main armament rounds and 4,200 rounds of 7.62 mm ammunition are carried.
The Challenger 2 has a four-man crew. The turret and hull are protected with second generation Chobham armour (also known as Dorchester). On one occasion, in August 2006, during the post-invasion stage of the Iraq War, an RPG-29 was fired at a Challenger 2 that was climbing over a ramp. The armour on its front underside hull, which was not augmented with an explosive reactive armour package, was damaged. The tank subsequently returned to base under its own power and was quickly repaired and back on duty the following day. To date, the only time the tank has ever been seriously damaged during operations was by another Challenger 2 in a ‘blue on blue’ (friendly fire) incident when the damaged tank had its hatch open at the time of the incident. It has seen operational service in Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq.
A new version of the Challenger 2 Megatron was unveiled in July 2016 at the Tank Fest in Bovington fitted with a new armour design. This latest version is fitted with a combination of reactive, passive and bar armour providing unique protection against new threats of modern battlefield. The Challenger 2 TES Megatron can be fitted with variable armour depending on the nature of the threats and the type of battlefield where the tank must be deployed.
