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
Pros:
- Gains German gun seen on Leopard 2A7V with corresponding ammunition (significantly better than default ammunition of challenger 2)
- Retains some features from Black Night - the LWS and commander thermal scope
- Retains most pros of the base challenger 2, except for the inert ammo rack
- Slightly better acceleration than the base challenger 2, but same speed
- No random ammo racks everywhere in the hull, major ammo racks are placed behind the toughest plates in the entire tank (at least, when attacked from the front)
Cons:
- Vast majority of Soviet HE can obliterate it by hitting the constructs below commander optics
- No longer immune to overpenetrating turret ammo rack shot, as ammunition is no longer inert, either destroying it instantly or burning all of its ready ammo rack
- Retains some of the weaknesses of the base challenger 2:
- Same unreliable mantlet armour
- Majority of top tanks can penetrate it from high ground
- Pretty bad mobility
- Hull will not sustain direct hits well as usual and has no special armour for glancing hits like competition
- Ballistic markings on the British sight do not fit into the scope when fully zoomed (x10 mode) with APFSDS selected, commander has to dezoom a bit every time to see the ranges properly or just give up and spam laser rangefinder (subsequently spooking enemies with LWS)
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
- Videos
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
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- topic on the official game forum;
- other literature.
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