Challenger 3: The New NATO Tank That Could Dominate the Battlefield

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Key Points: The Challenger 3, a joint venture by BAE Systems and Rheinmetall, is poised to modernize the British Army’s armored capabilities, offering advances in lethality, mobility, and protection.

-Most notably, it features a smoothbore main gun, replacing the Challenger 2’s rifled barrel.

-This shift aligns the UK with NATO allies, enabling interoperability and simplifying wartime logistics with standardized ammunition.

-Key upgrades include enhanced armor, the integration of the Trophy active protection system to counter drones and projectiles, dual thermal imagers for superior targeting, and increased electrical output for future tech.

-The Challenger 3 is expected to achieve initial operating capability by 2025.

Why the Challenger 3 Tank Is a Game-Changer for British Armor

A step up in terms of capabilities, the Challenger 3’s greatest strength is in the logistical simplification afforded by its new main gun.

The Challenger 3 is the latest iteration in the British Challenger lineup and one that, compared to its Cold War-era Challenger 2 predecessor, will offer the British advantages in mobility, protection — and logistics.

The Challenger 3 is a joint venture between two defense industry heavyweights, the United Kingdom-based BAE Systems and Germany’s Rheinmetall. Once completed and in service, the Challenger 3 will form the core of the Army’s Heavy Brigade Combat Teams armor formations.

“The Challenger 3 will bring unmatched lethality to future battlefields,” the British Ministry of Defence said in a post on X, citing the tank’s smoothbore main gun and “upgraded armour.” Though the Ministry of Defence was light on details, a look at information released by the manufacturer is revealing.

The Details

The most notable characteristic of the Challenger 3 is its main gun. Rather than retaining a rifled main gun, the Challenger 3 opted for a smoothbore option, bringing the upcoming tank in line with its NATO allies. The previous Challenger 2’s rifled main gun was an outlier among the 32-strong NATO members, which enjoyed ammunition interoperability thanks to their smoothbore tank main guns.

Moving away from legacy rifled tank barrels to a modernized smoothbore design means that the United Kingdom can fire NATO-standard tank ammunition, like the other NATO allies, a boon to wartime logistics and interoperability.

The upgraded tank will retain a four-man crew, but incorporates improvements to its engine, assuringly affording the Challenger 3 better range and perhaps an increase in horsepower. Of particular note is the platform’s anticipated boost to electrical output, offering space for incorporating electricity-hungry equipment in the future.

One of the Challenger 2’s particular strengths was its Dorchester armor, an amalgamation of metal, ceramic, and other materials that afforded the main battle tank a robust armor package, particularly in the turret.

The Challenger 3 will incorporate, as of yet, unspecified upgrades to its armor protection. However, it will also reportedly incorporate Rafael Advanced Defense Systems’ Trophy active protection system. Though intended to shoot down or disrupt incoming kinetic projectiles, active protection systems like Trophy may have a role in adjusting to the drone threat that is exerting a significant effect on the employment and utility of armored vehicles in Ukraine, including tanks.

Though certainly deserving of the Challenger 3 designation — and therefore, a new main battle tank platform, distinct from the Challenger 2 — the Challenger 3 will retain essentially the same hull as its predecessor, at least for the initial tranche of tanks.

Three Challenger 2 main battle tanks firing their 120mm guns during a night firing exercise by the Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry at Lulworth, Dorset.

A Rheinmetall infographic explains that compared to the single thermal imager enjoyed by its predecessor, the Challenger 3 will incorporate two independent thermal imagers, one for the commander and gunner each, as well as a driver sight with both front and rear thermal imager cameras.

Despite the slew of upgrades to armor protection, suspension, and power output, Rheinmetall plans for a very modest weight increase for the Challenger 3 of just a single ton, brining the new platform to 66 tons, presumable at base level configuration.

What’s Next?

Though not yet in service in the United Kingdom, the Challenger 3 platform’s design process is mature, and will soon be put through its paces via trials if it has not done so already. These trials are designed to find design find and weed out shortcomings and allow for tweaks to the Challenger 3 before it enters service.

Following trials and adjustments to the tank’s design, the Challenger 3 will enter a System Qualification Review that will ultimately finalize the Challenger’s design.

Though the British Army initially slated the Challenger 3 to reach an initial operating capability in 2027, that date may have moved up to 2025.

About the Author: Caleb Larson 

Caleb Larson is an American multiformat journalist based in Berlin, Germany. His work covers the intersection of conflict and society, focusing on American foreign policy and European security. He has reported from Germany, Russia, and the United States. Most recently, he covered the war in Ukraine, reporting extensively on the war’s shifting battle lines from Donbas and writing on the war’s civilian and humanitarian toll. Previously, he worked as a Defense Reporter for POLITICO Europe. You can follow his latest work on X.