Challenger 2 TES
Contents
Description
The Challenger 2 TES (2008) is a rank VII British medium tank with a battle rating of 11.7 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Winged Lions".
General info
Survivability and armour
The Challenger 2 TES has the armour that would be expected of the name (TES - Theatre 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. The tank now boasts some of the most effective ERA in the game, beating the T-90A's frontal chemical protection by over 500 mm of effective thickness.
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 it is less vulnerable to chemical munitions now. The gun breech will most likely block spalling from any penetrating round, allowing TES 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 composite side screens can take most of the brunt of lower power kinetic rounds (M111, DM33) at an angle. Chemical rounds will also fail to penetrate when hitting any ERA on the side. 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 | 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 Top (70°)
25 mm Middle (0°) 38 mm Bottom (0°) |
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 |
| Composite Armour | Front | Sides | ||
| Hull | Upper Kinetic: 420-700 mm Chemical: 800-1100 mm Lower Kinetic: 100-270 mm Chemical: 130-800 mm |
Ext. Composite Screen with ERA: Kinetic: 88 mm Chemical: 1900 mm | ||
| Turret | Turret Cheeks Kinetic: 440-720 mm Chemical: 780-1000 mm |
Internal Composite Kinetic: 190-740 mm Chemical: 300-1000 mm Ext. ERA: Kinetic: 30 mm Chemical: 222 mm | ||
Notes:
- Upper Frontal Plate has additional 6.35 mm external structural steel plate.
- Lower Frontal Plate has additional composite with NERA elements, which is very effective against chemical munitions.
Mobility
Write about the mobility of the ground vehicle. Estimate the specific power and manoeuvrability, as well as the maximum speed forwards and backwards.
| 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 | 1886 | 2,322 | 25.21 | 31.04 |
| Realistic | 60 | 38 | 1076 | 1,217 | 14.39 | 16.27 | |
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armaments
Main armament
| 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 | 50 | -10°/+20° | ±180° | Two-plane | 29.5 | 40.8 | 49.6 | 54.8 | 58.4 | 6.50 | 5.75 | 5.30 | 5.00 |
| Realistic | 18.4 | 21.7 | 26.4 | 29.1 | 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) (g) |
Ricochet | ||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | |||||||
| Shot L23A1 | APFSDS | 1,535 | 3.89 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 78° | 80° | 81° |
| Shell L31A7 | HESH | 670 | 17.1 | 0.1 | 4 | 6,560 | 73° | 77° | 80° |
| L26 | APFSDS | 1,650 | 4.1 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 78° | 80° | 81° |
| L27A1 | APFSDS | 1,650 | 4.1 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ |
Machine guns
| 7.62 mm L37A2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Pintle | 1,700 (100) | 650 | -10°/+50° | ±180° |
| 7.62 mm L94A1 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Coaxial | 2,300 (2,000) | 600 | N/A | N/A |
Usage in battles
Describe the tactics of playing in the vehicle, the features of using vehicles in the team and advice on tactics. Refrain from creating a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view but instead give the reader food for thought. Describe the most dangerous enemies and give recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of the game in different modes (AB, RB, SB).
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Impressive chemical protection on the front and sides.
- Maintains the kinetic protection from previous variants, with improvements in places.
- Very accurate L30A1 120 mm gun.
- Fast reload.
Cons:
- No composite plates behind the ERA panels on the turret sides
- Heaviest MBT in the game with a very poor hp/ton ratio; very poor acceleration
- Same ammunition options as the previous Challenger 2s
- Maintains the same weakspots from previous variants.
- No CITV (Commander Independent Thermal Viewer).
- L27A1 has low penetration compared to other top rank NATO ammunition.
History
Development
In 2005, the MOD recognised a need for a Capability Sustainment Programme (CSP) to extend the service life of the Challenger 2 into the mid-2030s and upgrade its mobility, lethality and survivability. The CSP was planned to be complete by 2020 and was to combine all the upgrades from CLIP, including the fitting of a 120 mm smoothbore gun. By 2014, the CSP programme had been replaced by the Life Extension Programme (LEP) which shared a similar scope of replacing obsolete components and extending the tank's service life from 2025 to 2035, however the 120 mm smoothbore gun had seemingly been abandoned.
In 2015, the British Army provided an insight into the scope of the LEP, dividing it into four key areas, namely:
- Surveillance and Target Acquisition: Upgrades to the commander's primary sight and gunner's primary sight, as well as the replacement of the thermal observation and gunnery sights (TOGS) with third-generation thermal imaging.
- Weapon Control System: Upgrades to the fire control computer, fire control panel and gun processing unit.
- Mobility: Upgrades including third-generation hydrogas suspension, improved air filtration, CV-12 common rail fuel injection, transmission and cooling.
- Electronic Architecture: Upgrades to the gunner's control handles, video distribution architecture, generic vehicle architecture compliant interfaces, increased on-board processing and improved human machine interface.
The MOD also began assessing active protection systems (APS) on the Challenger 2, including MUSS and Rheinmetall's ROSY Rapid Obscurant System.
Media
Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.
See also
Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:
- reference to the series of the vehicles;
- links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.
External links
| Britain medium tanks | |
|---|---|
| Valentine | Valentine I · Valentine IX · Valentine XI |
| Cromwell | Cromwell I · Cromwell V · Cromwell V (RP-3) |
| Cromwell derivatives | Challenger · Avenger · Comet I · Comet I "Iron Duke IV" · Charioteer Mk VII |
| Centurion | Centurion Mk 1 · Centurion Mk.2 · Centurion Mk 3 · Centurion Mk.5 AVRE · Centurion Mk 10 · Centurion Action X · FV4202 |
| Vickers MBT | Vickers Mk.1 · Vickers Mk.3 · Vickers Mk.7 |
| Chieftain | Chieftain Mk 3 · Chieftain Mk 5 · Chieftain Mk 10 |
| Challenger 1 | Challenger Mk.2 · Challenger Mk.3 · Challenger DS |
| Challenger 2 | Challenger 2 · Challenger 2 (2F) · Challenger 2 TES · Challenger 2 OES · Challenger 2E · Challenger 2 Black Night |
| Challenger 3 | Challenger 3 TD |
| Australia | A.C.I · A.C.IV · Centurion Mk.5/1 |
| South Africa | Olifant Mk.1A · Olifant Mk.2 · TTD |
| India | Vijayanta · Bhishma TWMP |
| Israel | ▄Sho't Kal Dalet |
| Jordan | Khalid |
| Sweden | ▄Strv 81 (RB 52) |
| USA | Grant I · Sherman II · Sherman Firefly · Sherman IC "Trzyniec" |
- Ground vehicles
- Britain ground vehicles
- Seventh rank ground vehicles
- Medium tanks
- Ground vehicles with explosive reactive armour
- Ground vehicles with composite armour
- Ground vehicles with smoke grenades
- Ground vehicles with engine smoke generating system
- Ground vehicles with night vision device
- Ground vehicles with thermal sight
- Ground vehicles with gun stabilizer
