Challenger 2 (2F)
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Contents
| This page is about the British medium tank Challenger 2 (2F). For other uses, see Challenger (Disambiguation). |
Description
The Tank, Combat, 120-mm Gun, Challenger 2 (Dorchester Level 2F) is a rank VII British medium tank
with a battle rating of 11.7 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Starfighters".
General info
Survivability and armour
The Challenger 2 (2F) was created to give increased protection against shaped charges and as much is evident when evaluating the armour. While the internal composite armour remains the same from the previous variant, a large amount of external composite and ERA has been added to the hull front and sides as well as the turret sides. Additional slat armour has also been mounted to the sides and rear of the hull and turret.
With the only real change being the additional external armour, the same structural weakspots that exist on the Challenger 2 remain on the 2F. The large driver's port is an obvious target for enemy armour, which can penetrate it at almost any angle due to only RHA protection. Kinetic rounds aimed through the driver's port from the direct or near-direct front will often go straight through the tank, often taking several crew members, the cannon breach or the engine, occasionally resulting in a knocked out crew. Chemical rounds are less effective but fragments may set off the charges stored next to the driver, especially when fired at from above.
The gun mantlet is also a large weakspot, although kinetic rounds will be most effective, as chemical rounds will often only knock out the cannon breach or be blocked by the optics mounted at the top of the gun, which will allow the tank to pull back and repair provided it has the distance to do so. Kinetic rounds will often not fragment properly, going straight through the back of the turret, at max taking out two crew members due to the breach acting as a shield to the other side of the turret. Only when attacking from above will rounds have a significant chance of detonating ammunition due to the 2 stage system used by British tanks. Any ammunition stored in the turret will be warheads which are not able to be detonated.
As with the last variant and many other MBTs, the sides have no real kinetic protection, however the 2F has additional protection against chemical rounds. Most shots to the side of the front half of the turret have a high likelihood of taking out the cannon breach and a crew member, occasionally knocking out 2 or 3 crew. Any shots the the back half of the turret from the side will be ineffective due to the large amount of empty space. Aiming low on the tank's hull will give the best results for penetration and ammo detonation. Despite the additional ERA on the lower frontal plate, chemical rounds such as the German DM12A1 can still get through, and can get through the side mounted composite screens on a flat angle (0-25°).
| 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: 420-1000 mm Chemical: 700-950 mm Lower Kinetic: 100-400 mm Chemical: 350-570 mm |
Ext. Composite with NERA: Kinetic: 30 mm Chemical: 400 mm | ||
| Turret | Turret Cheeks Kinetic: 440-720 mm Chemical: 780-1000 mm |
Internal Composite Kinetic: 190-740 mm Chemical: 300-1000 mm Ext. Composite with NERA Kinetic: 30 mm Chemical: 400 mm | ||
Notes:
- Upper Frontal Plate has additional 10 mm external plate.
- Lower Frontal Plate has 25.4 mm external steel and ROMOR-A ERA.
- Parts of the side and rear hull have mounted Slat Armour (50 mm Chemical Protection).
Mobility
| Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Reverse | Stock | AoA | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | |
| Arcade | 66 | 42 | 62.5 | 1.1 | 1,886 | 2,322 | 30.18 | 36.51 |
| Realistic | 60 | 38 | 1,076 | 1,217 | 17.22 | 19.14 | ||
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
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 | 471 | 469 | 464 | 457 | 450 | 443 |
| L27A1 | APFSDS | 538 | 536 | 532 | 525 | 518 | 511 |
| 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 | 0.05 | 0.1 | 6,560 | 73° | 77° | 80° |
| L26 | APFSDS | 1,550 | 4.1 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 78° | 80° | 81° |
| L27A1 | APFSDS | 1,550 | 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).
Modules
| Tier | Mobility | Protection | Firepower | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | Tracks | Parts | Horizontal Drive | L34 | L26 | |
| II | Suspension | Brake System | FPE | Adjustment of Fire | NVD | |
| III | Filters | Crew Replenishment | Elevation Mechanism | Dorchester 2F | ||
| IV | Transmission | Engine | ESS | Laser rangefinder | L27A1 | Artillery Support |
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Better HP/weight ratio than Challenger 2
- Efective side-ERA against air-to-ground missiles
- Fast reload, particularly for a 120 mm
Cons:
- Vulnerable commander's hatch and cannon breech
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;
- encyclopedia page on the tank;
- 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
- 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
