Challenger 2 OES

This page is about the premium British medium tank Challenger 2 OES. For other versions, see Challenger 2 (Family).

Challenger 2 OES

Challenger 2 OES

Britain

VII Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
11.7	11.7	11.7

Class:

PREMIUM

Medium tank

Purchase:9 620

Show in game

Description

The Challenger 2 OES is a modification for the Challenger 2 tank made to improve its survivability in high intensity battles. With the introduction of ERA blocks covering the sides and front of the vehicle, this protection was meant to deal specially with RPGs and ATGMs in urban combat. The vehicle also received updated protection against IEDs. The upgrade started development based on the Challenger 2 TES, which is almost identical; this upgrade was created as a response to the asymmetric warfare scenario of Iraq 2002, in which IEDs and urban combat doomed many NATO tanks due to their poor protection on the sides. The US developed a similar upgrade with the TUSK ERA package for their M1 Abrams tanks.

Introduced in Update "Air Superiority", the Challenger 2 OES is very similar to other Challenger 2 tanks. However, the increased weight due to the ERA and added composite screens does not include an upgraded engine, which means that the mobility of the Challenger 2 OES is mediocre when compared to earlier Challenger 2s. However, this comes with increased protection against both APFSDS projectiles and ATGMs, the ERA and composite screens are enough to increase the protection against other tanks in critical areas, while they also increase the chances of enemy ATGMs not penetrating the vehicle on the sides of the tank and the turret. However, the weak spot in the lower front plate is still present so take that into consideration and hide your hull whenever possible.

General info

Survivability and armour

ERA

Effective action against the cumulative ammunition

Composite armour

Balanced protection against all types of ammunition

Smoke grenades

Creation of a smoke screen in front of the vehicle

ESS

Creation of a smoke screen in the direction of movement of the vehicle

Armourfront / side / back

Hull130 / 38 / 50

Turret270 / 80 / 58

Crew4 people

Visibility88 %

The Challenger 2 OES has the armour that would be expected of the name (OES - Operational Entry Standard). The tank has been updated to meet the modern theatres of war, including streetfighting and more effective chemical munitions and kinetic weapons. The ERA on the sides displays this exact line of thought. In-game, the combined ERA and composite screen add ~240 mm of effective protection against shaped charges and about 46 mm protection against KE rounds at 0 degrees.

Equipped with the iconic jammer plate mounted to the roof, this tank will be easy to spot and identify, so one should take care to cover their weak points with extra care, as many will know where the weaknesses are, and feel pressured to shoot them due to the increased armour elsewhere. The tank retains the same weakspots: the gun mantlet, driver's port, and the lower frontal plate, though unlike the Challenger 2 (2F) you get the LFP composite block (and the rest of the add-on) stock, which does help with the chemical protection. The gun breech will most likely block spalling from any penetrating round, allowing OES players to retreat and repair their breech, should they be far enough away from danger.

When opposing enemy tanks, commanders should attempt to angle their tank slightly, as the side add-on will be more effective against HEAT-FS and ATGMs (so long as they don't have tandem charge warheads), though this won't prevent any darts you meet from going through - M735 and DM23 can make it through 3 ERA blocks and still have enough energy to take out the engine. Angling has the added bonus of making the driver's port less effective as a means of knocking out the tank's crew.

Armour type:

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	38-50 mm (56-83°) Upper plate 70 mm (31-34°) Lower glacis 60 mm (0-80°) Driver's port	25 mm (70°) Top 25 mm Middle 38 mm Bottom	25 mm (32°)	10 - 20 mm
Turret	38 - 50 mm (56-82°) Turret front 30 mm (3-82°) Gun mantlet	20 - 25 mm (8-10°)	20 mm (18°)	10 - 38 mm
Cupola	8 mm (3 - 78°)	8 mm (9 - 60°)	8 mm (1 - 80°)	44 - 60 mm

Notes:

• Upper front plate has additional 6.35 mm external structural steel plate.
• Lower front plate has additional composite with NERA elements, which is very effective against chemical munitions.
• Tracks and suspension wheels are 20 mm thick.

Mobility

Speedforward / back

AB66 / 42 km/h

RB and SB60 / 38 km/h

Number of gears8 forward

4 back

Weight74.8 t

Engine power

AB2 322 hp

RB and SB1 217 hp

Power-to-weight ratio

AB31.0 hp/t

RB and SB16.3 hp/t

The mobility of the OES is poor, but in comparison with the TES version, mobility has become better, because the engine has become more powerful by 200 horsepower. The drastic increase in weight over the Challenger 2 (2F) makes the already below average power-to-weight ratio even worse, and getting the add-on stock ironically makes the situation worse: other Challenger 2s allow you to go for mobility upgrades before the add-on packages, making mobility through the stock grind more bearable as you decide when the extra weight is added, whereas with the OES you start out at 75t and 1217 hp. Even with all the mobility upgrades, the OES is slow to turn and slow to accelerate, and on some dirt roads it may struggle to reach 25 km/h. The neutral steering is unaffected by the increase in weight, completing a 360 traverse in the same amount of time as a 62.5t Challenger 2 (~14.5s).

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	66	42	74.8	1,886	2,322	25.21	31.04
Realistic	60	38		1,076	1,217	14.39	16.27

Modifications and economy

Repair cost

AB3 506

RB3 375

SB4 194

Crew training10 000

Experts1 560 000

Aces2 200

Research Aces2 420 000

Reward for battleAB / RB / SB

2 × 150 / 190 / 210 %

2 × 244 / 244 / 244 %

Modifications

Mobility	Protection	Firepower
Tracks Suspension Brake System Filters Transmission Engine	Improved Parts Improved FPE Crew Replenishment ESS	Horizontal Drive 120mm_britain_Smoke_ammo_pack 120mm_britain_L26_APDSFS_ammo_pack Adjustment of Fire NVD Elevation Mechanism Smoke grenade Laser rangefinder 120mm_britain_L27_APDSFS_ammo_pack Artillery Support

Armaments

Laser rangefinder

Reduces the error and increases the maximum measurable distance of the rangefinder

Night vision device

Improves visibility by enhancing natural light or active illumination.

Thermal imager

Allows to see thermal radiation in the infrared range day and night

Main armament

120 mm L30A1 cannon

Two-plane stabilizer

Reduces the swing of the gun in two planes while moving

Ammunition49 rounds

First-order4 rounds

Reloadbasic crew → aces

6.5 → 5.0 s

Vertical guidance-10° / 20°

Give the reader information about the characteristics of the main gun. Assess its effectiveness in a battle based on the reloading speed, ballistics and the power of shells. Do not forget about the flexibility of the fire, that is how quickly the cannon can be aimed at the target, open fire on it and aim at another enemy. Add a link to the main article on the gun: {{main|Name of the weapon}}. Describe in general terms the ammunition available for the main gun. Give advice on how to use them and how to fill the ammunition storage.

120 mm L30A1					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	49	-10°/+20°	±180°	Two-plane	29.5	40.8	49.6	54.9	58.4	6.50	5.75	5.30	5.00
Realistic					18.4	21.7	26.4	29.2	31.0

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
Shot L23A1	APFSDS	396	394	387	376	367	357
Shell L31A7	HESH	152	152	152	152	152	152
L26	APFSDS	493	491	487	481	474	468
L27A1	APFSDS	564	562	557	551	545	538

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg)	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
Shot L23A1	APFSDS	1,535	3.89	-	-	-	78°	80°	81°
Shell L31A7	HESH	670	17.34	0.1	4	6.53	73°	77°	80°
L26	APFSDS	1,650	4.3	-	-	-	78°	80°	81°
L27A1	APFSDS	1,650	4.3	-	-	-	78°	80°	81°

Smoke shell characteristics
Ammunition	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Screen radius (m)	Screen deploy time (s)	Screen hold time (s)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)
L34	670	17.1	20	5	25	50

Ammo racks

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	6th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
49	48 (+1) 45 (+4)	45 (+4) 39 (+10)	43 (+6) 31 (+18)	41 (+8) 22 (+27)	34 (+15) 14 (+35)	29 (+20) 5 (+44)	No

Machine guns

12.7 mm M2HB machine gun

Ammunition1 000 rounds

Belt capacity200 rounds

Reloadbasic crew → aces

10.4 → 8.0 s

Fire rate575 shots/min

Vertical guidance-10° / 50°

7.62 mm L94A1 machine gun (coaxial)

Ammunition2 000 rounds

Belt capacity2 000 rounds

Reloadbasic crew → aces

10.4 → 8.0 s

Fire rate600 shots/min

Offensive and anti-aircraft machine guns not only allow you to fight some aircraft but also are effective against lightly armoured vehicles. Evaluate machine guns and give recommendations on its use.

12.7 mm M2HB
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
Pintle	1,000 (200)	575	-10°/+50°	±180°

7.62 mm L94A1
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
Coaxial	2,000 (2,000)	600	-	-

Usage in battles

The tactics of combat are similar to the Challenger 2 TES, with the Challenger 2 OES, the addon armour protection comes as standard and leaves the vehicle more protected than the base Challenger 2. However, this add-on armour has the downside of making the OES rather sluggish at accelerating and turning.

As with all the Challenger 2's, the ideal playstyle is to be at long range, utilising hull down positions to protect the hull and use the gunners thermal sight and laser range finder to return fire with good effectiveness. The OES retains the option of carrying smoke or HESH shells. Smoke can be used to fire at enemy positions to obscure their view while either the OES is repositioned or teammates are advancing. HESH can be used against light vehicles to overpressure them in situations where getting a killing blow with APFSDS would be difficult.

Where close range combat is required, ensure that the hull remains protected as much as possible by using terrain features. Take the time to ensure that when pushing into a location that it is clear of threats, as pushing round corners of buildings will leave the hull exposed without the chance to return fire.

Brawling is an option, however, the OES is rather sluggish and will not last long against fast or experienced opponents when the range is very short. Try to get the enemy to shoot the turret cheeks, as shots to the hull or gun breech will render the OES combat ineffective. Using the Challenger 2's impressive reload will give the OES an upper hand in brawls, as if both the Challenger and the opponent fire at the same time, the Challenger will typically reload first.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Retains pros from previous challenger 2:
  • Impressive chemical protection on the front and sides
  • Impressive kinetic protection on either side of the cannon breech, allowing for efficient hull down combat
  • Access to unique and powerful HESH round
  • Very accurate L30A1 120 mm gun, can even fire HESH accurately at a range of several kilometres
  • Fast reload
• Roof mounted machine gun has access to thermal and can be used as a makeshift CITV for scouting (but not firing, unfortunately)
• Access to 12.7 mm machine gun, a rare luxury on British tanks
• Since it is a premium tank, its RP and SL gains are doubled and it can research any British tanks currently in the game

Cons:

• The jammer is useless in-game and begs other tanks to scout it out or use HE on it
• Heaviest MBT in the game with a very poor hp/ton ratio; very poor acceleration
• Slow turret traverse speed for the BR
• Very poor steering, turning is slow and costs a great deal of speed, which takes a long time to regain
• In most situations, can only reach around 40 km/h (25 mph)
• Also retains weaknesses of previous challenger 2 models:
  • Same ammunition options as the previous Challengers
  • Frontal armour is weak at the lower frontal plate, drivers port, and cannon breech
  • L27A1 has low penetration compared to other top rank NATO ammunition, however reload speed does compensate for this
  • Cannot maintain the short reload time after the first-stage ammo rack (4 rounds) has been depleted

History

A modification of the British Challenger 2 TES main battle tank with Dorchester Level 2 armour set has been used by the British Army in the operation in Iraq since 2002. At the end of 2004, these tanks were additionally equipped with combined turret side shields, as well as grilles covering rear parts of the hull and turret for protection against shape-charged anti-tank weapons - this configuration received the designation Dorchester Level 2F (DL2F). The next modernization, also aimed at improving the protection, took place in 2008. The tanks received hull skirts made of combined armour, NERA blocks on the hull sides were replaced with ERA containers manufactured by the Israeli company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Limited. This variant of the Challenger 2 was designated OES (Operational Entry Standard). Designed specifically for urban combat.

- From Devblog

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the Challenger 2 OES from live.warthunder.com.

See also

Related development

• Challenger 2 (Family)

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.