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Ukrainian troops complete Challenger Tank training, return home. UPDATED: German Leopards arrive. [1]
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Date: 2023-03-27
The Guardian is reporting that Ukrainian soldiers learning to use the Challenger II tank have completed their training and have returned home to Ukraine. The British MOD would not comment on the location of the 14 Challenger II tanks the UK has pledged to Ukraine, so it is unknown when they will arrive in Ukraine (or whether they may even already be there?). However, completing the training brings Ukraine one step closer to fielding these powerful main battle tanks.
14 tanks sounds like a small number, but consider that the UK has only 157 functional Challenger II’s in total, with a few dozen more that are more or less “parts vehicles” being used to keep the rest running, so 14 tanks actually represents a sizable chunk of the UK’s available store of working Challenger II’s.
Also consider that the Challenger, like the other western tanks to be sent to Ukraine (Leopard II’s and Abrams M1A1’s), are generally considered to be far superior to Russian T-72’s and T-80’s… and even more superior to the aging T-62’s and T-55’s now being sent into Ukraine by Russia. So by comparison, if well supported in the field using combined arms tactics those Challengers should be worth a far greater number of Russian tanks.
The UK is also sending 20 Bulldog Troop Carriers and 30 AS-90 self-propelled artillery guns.
The Bulldogs are upgraded FV-430 series armored vehicles and while they are lightly armed (with just a 7.62 mm machine gun that can be controlled from inside the vehicle), in the 2000’s the armor was upgraded with a reactive armor package and a better engine installed, making the vehicles faster and more nimble.
The AS-90 boasts a 155 mm gun with an effective range of 15 miles (~25 km) using standard ammunition and capable of a sustained fire rate of 2 rounds/minute, though it can burst fire up to 6 rounds/minute for up to 3 minutes. The package to Ukraine will include 45,000 155 mm shells for use with the system.
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[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/3/27/2160452/-Ukrainian-troops-complete-Challenger-Tank-training-return-home
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