Challenger 3 TD
Contents
Description
The Challenger 3 Technology Demonstrator is a rank VIII British medium tank with a battle rating of 11.7 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Air Superiority".
The Challenger 3 (TD) is the capstone of the British ground tech tree, and a fitting end to the mighty Challenger line. It is the Rheinmetall entry to the Challenger 2 upgrade program, in the same way the Black Night is BAE's entry to the same. In short, the Challenger 3 (TD) brings NATO standardized ammunition, better ammunition storage, a proper commander's gunsight, and a few other toys to the end of the Challenger line. If you've got this far in the tree, you will be rewarded handsomely with this mighty tool, a combination of the best of British and German engineering.
General info
Survivability and armour
The armour protection on the Challenger 3 (TD) is much the same as the preceding Challenger 2E, and the Challenger "Black Night". You have your standard composite blocks in the turret cheeks, front of the hull, and then minimal armour covering the rest of the tank. If you are familiar with the previous tanks (which you should be, having got to the end of the British Challenger tank line) then you will know the layout of the Challenger 3 (TD). The standard Challenger 2 weak points apply - the driver's viewport, the gun mantlet and breech, and lower front plate are all very susceptible to being one-shot straight through by the rounds you'll commonly face at this battle rating.
However, the upgrades the Challenger 3 (TD) gets over the preceding Challenger 2E and Black Night are much more subtle. You still retain the spall liner the preceding Challenger 2s get, though not in the turret, only the hull. The major increase to survivability in this tank comes in its new ammunition layout - no longer are shells strewn throughout the hull, you get a dedicated ready rack and blowout panels at the rear of the turret. If you are carrying 16 shells (15 in the rack, and 1 in the breech), you won't have any shells throughout the hull at all! Combined with the new spall liner, this means the Challenger 3 (TD) can soak up fire much more reliably than one would reasonably expect from the Challenger tanks.
Furthermore, the Challenger 3 (TD) gets two more toys to play with in the form of a Laser Warning System (LWS), and a commander's gunsight mounted on a tower above the hull. The commander's sight (and the gunner sight) both get generation 3 thermal sights, making target acquisition and fire control a painless experience. These tools allow you to know when you've been targeted by laser rangefinding, or laser-guided munitions, and comfortably hide 95% of your tank behind hills or terrain, while firing back with pinpoint accuracy. The survivability bonus imparted by these tools is not to be underestimated.
Armour type:
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | ___ mm | ___ mm Top ___ mm Bottom |
___ mm | ___ - ___ mm |
| Turret | ___ - ___ mm Turret front ___ mm Gun mantlet |
___ - ___ mm | ___ - ___ mm | ___ - ___ mm |
| Cupola | ___ mm | ___ mm | ___ mm | ___ mm |
Notes:
Mobility
The Challenger 3 (TD) uses a similar engine to the Challenger 2E, the Perkins CV12-6A. This engine pumps out 1500HP of power on a chassis slightly heavier than the 2E, accounting for the new 120mm gun. This is the same as the Euro Power Pack you have in the Challenger 2E, which also has 1500HP. Mobility is much the same as the 2E, you may notice a slight decrease in acceleration and top speed, but ultimately the difference is trivial.
| 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 | 62.5 | _,___ | 2,290 | __.__ | 36.64 |
| Realistic | 60 | 38 | _,___ | 1,200 | __.__ | 19.2 | |
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Armaments
Main armament
Challenger users will be pleased to know the Challenger 3 (TD) has a new trick up its sleeve in comparison to the previous Challenger line - the Rh120mm L/55 A1 gun. This is a Rheinmetall 120mm smoothbore cannon, the same as found on the Leopard 2A7V. This allows the Challenger 3 (TD) to use NATO standard ammunition, and more pointedly, DM53 ammunition once unlocked. DM53 is a dramatic improvement over the previous L27A1, and you will notice a stark difference in your ability to punch through even the heaviest armour effectively. The gun is an upgrade in virtually all areas - velocity, penetration power on both flat and angled surfaces, the amount of spalling generated, accuracy, etc.
| 120 mm Rh120 L/55 A1 | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
| Arcade | 37 | -10°/+20° | ±180° | Two-plane | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | _.__ | _.__ | _.__ | _.__ |
| Realistic | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | ||||||||
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 | ||
| DM12A1 | HEATFS | 480 | 480 | 480 | 480 | 480 | 480 |
| DM33 | APFSDS | 496 | 494 | 486 | 476 | 466 | 456 |
| DM11 | HE-TF | 37 | 37 | 37 | 37 | 37 | 37 |
| DM53 | APFSDS | 652 | 650 | 640 | 628 | 616 | 604 |
| 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% | ||||||||||
| DM12A1 | HEATFS | 1,190 | 13.5 | 0.05 | 0.1 | 2.15 | 65° | 72° | 77° | |||
| DM33 | APFSDS | 1,690 | 4.3 | - | - | - | 78° | 80° | 81° | |||
| DM11 | HE-TF | 1,015 | 19 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 3.93 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |||
| DM53 | APFSDS | 1,750 | 5 | - | - | - | 78° | 80° | 81° | |||
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
4th rack empty |
5th rack empty |
6th rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 37 | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ |
The other, more hidden benefit, of the Challenger 3 (TD) as mentioned above is the ready rack. Gone are the much-maligned 4 shell racks of the previous Challengers, this one has a ready rack of 15 shells! Not only that, they are positioned neatly at the back of the turret, with blowout panels behind. Taking 16 shells will mean none whatsoever in the hull, and the ones in the turret will be much more survivable to kill-shots compared to any previous Challenger model.
Machine guns
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.
| 7.62 mm L94A1 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| ___ (___) | ___ | __° | __° | |
Usage in battles
Pros and cons
Summarise and briefly evaluate the vehicle in terms of its characteristics and combat effectiveness. Mark its pros and cons in a bulleted list. Try not to use more than 6 points for each of the characteristics. Avoid using categorical definitions such as "bad", "good" and the like - use substitutions with softer forms such as "inadequate" and "effective".
Pros:
- The new Rheinmetall 120mm cannon, and the accompanying ammunition in DM53 and HE proximity shells
- New ammunition layouts, giving you 15 ready-rack shells firing at 5s intervals with an aced crew
- Much higher survivability in the hull with the new spall liner, and even more so if you take 16 shells or less
- Generation 3 thermal sights in both the gunner's sight and commander's sight mast, allowing easy target acquisition
- 1500HP Perkins engine, giving mobility on par with the Leopards, and not much worse than an Abrams
- Laser Warning System, giving ample notice of impending gunshots and laser-guided munitions
Cons:
- Armour in both the turret and hull leave much to be desired, and shares the same weak points as the rest of the Challenger 2 line
- No spall liners in the turret, in contrast to every other Challenger 2. If your enemy knows this, they will exploit it.
- This is still a Challenger. The same weak points apply to this, as with every other Challenger. Most enemies by now will know these, and aim for them, while you can do relatively little to stop it. The difference is at this battle rating, you are facing stronger and tougher enemies, with much higher killing power. Play accordingly.
History
Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the vehicle in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).
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
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- other literature.
| 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
- Eighth rank ground vehicles
- Medium tanks
- 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
