Britain confirmed that it was going to send 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine.
Hence, there is a possibility of a confrontation with Russian T-90 Tanks.
Challenger 2 is an extensive redesign of Challenger 1.
Although the hull and automotive components seem similar, they are of a newer design than
the Challenger 1 and only around 3% of components are interchangeable.
After a production delay, the tank entered service with the British Army in 1998, with
the last delivered in 2002.
The T-90 has its origins in a Soviet-era program aimed at developing a single replacement for
the T-64, T-72 and T-80 series of main battle tanks.
It is a third-generation Russian main battle tank developed from the T-72.
It entered service with the Russian Army in 1992.
In this video Defense Updates analyzes how the British Challenger 2 compares against
Russian T-90?
Now let’s move to the topic of our video.
We will examine 5 aspects one by one.
Challenger 2 has a base weight of 62.5 tonnes but can go up to 75 tonnes with add-on armor
modules.
It is powered by a Perkins CV12 TCA turbocharged diesel engine, similar to that on the Challenger
1.
This engine develops 1200 horsepower.
The tank has a 550 km (340 mi) range and a maximum road speed of 59 kilometers per hour
(37 mph).
T-90 is powered by different engines depending on the variant.
The most powerful of these is the V-92S2F which develops 1130 horsepower.
Similar to Challenger 2, the tank has a 550 km (340 mi) range and a maximum road speed
of 60 kilometers per hour (37.2 mph).
Both are well suited for the terrain in Ukraine.
While there is not much to choose when it comes to forward agility, there is a stark
difference in reverse speed.
Challenger 2 can move back with a speed of 36 km/h or 22.3 mph thanks to the two reverse
gears, while T-90 can manage only 6 km/h or 3.7 mph.
T-90 also has only stick control and doesn’t have a steering control unlike Challenger
The Challenger 2 is heavily armored.
The turret and hull are protected by second-generation Chobham armor, also known as Dorchester, the
details of which are classified but which is said to have a mass efficiency more than
twice that of rolled homogeneous armor against high explosive anti-tank projectiles.
Explosive reactive armor kits and additional bar armor may be fitted as necessary.
When fully equipped it is considered to be one of the most well-protected tanks in the
world.
The nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) protection system is located in the turret
bustle.
The tank's shape is designed to minimize its radar signature.
On each side of the turret are five L8 smoke grenade dischargers.
The Challenger 2 can create smoke by injecting diesel fuel into the exhaust manifolds.
To date, the only time a tank has been destroyed during operations was by another Challenger
2 in a friendly fire ("blue on blue" ) incident at Basra in 2003 when the destroyed tank had
its hatch open at the time of the incident.
The T-90 has a "three-tiered" protection system.
The first tier is the composite armor in the turret, consisting of a basic armor shell
with an insert of alternating layers of aluminum and plastics and a controlled deformation
section.
The second tier is third-generation Kontakt-5 or Relikt explosive reactive armor (ERA) and
the third tier is a Shtora-1 countermeasures suite.
Relikt which is more effective is only available in T-90M and Shtora-1 has not been very useful.
Challenger 2 is operated by a crew of 4 (commander, gunner, loader/operator, driver) whereas T-90
is fed by an automatic loader which removes the need for a manual loader in the tank and
reduces the crew to 3 (commander, gunner, and driver)
While this looks positive for T-90, it is negated by a design flaw.
T-90 like other Russian Tanks has its ammunition storage in the form of a carousel in the body
of the tank immediately under the turret.
Any penetrating hit in the turret or hull can set off the ammunition, with a result
sometimes describes as Jack-in-the-box effect: the force of the blast from the ammo tears
the tank apart from inside, often detaching the turret with such force that it is thrown
clear.
Challenger 2 has been designed to provide its crew with good battlefield awareness
The digital fire control computer from Computing Devices Co of Canada contains two 32-bit processors
with a MIL STD1553B databus.
The commander has a panoramic SAGEM VS 580-10 gyrostabilised sight with laser rangefinder.
The elevation range is +35° to −35°.
The commander's station is equipped with eight periscopes for 360° vision.
The Thermal Observation and Gunnery Sight II (TOGS II), from Thales, provides night
vision.
The thermal image is displayed on both the gunner's and commander's sights and monitors.
The gunner has a stabilized primary sight using a laser rangefinder, with a range of
200 m (660 ft) to 10 km (6.2 mi).
The driver's position is equipped with a Thales Optronics image-intensifying Passive Driving
Periscope (PDP) for night driving and a rear-view thermal camera.
The tank is fitted with an Extel Systems Wedel auxiliary power unit, an APU.
It has a 600 A electrical output, which can be used to power the vehicle's electrical
systems when it is stationary and the main engine is switched off.
This helps keep it hidden from the enemy without compromising its situational awareness.
The T-90 contains the gunner’s 1A43 day fire control system, the gunner’s TO1-KO1
thermal imaging sight with a target identification range of 1.2km to 1.5km and the commander’s
PNK-S sight.
A 1G46 day sight/rangefinder with missile guidance channel, 2E42-4 armament stabiliser,
1V528 ballistic computer and DVE-BS wind gauge comprise the gunner’s 1A43 day FCS.
A TKN-4S (Agat-S) day/night sight, which has identification ranges of 800m (day) and 700m
(night) are included in the commander’s PNK 4S sight.
The driver is equipped with a TVN-5 infrared night viewer.
While T-90 has been lagging in this area, recent upgrades have made them competent.
The main issue that is still prevalent is lack of digital control and integration of
nightlight with main sight.
T-90 has no APU.
The Challenger 2 is equipped with a 120 mm (4.7 in) 55-caliber long L30A1 tank gun, the
successor to the L11 gun used on the Chieftain and Challenger 1.
Uniquely among NATO main battle tank guns, the L30A1 is rifled, because the British Army
continues to place a premium on the use of high-explosive squash head (HESH) rounds in
addition to armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding-sabot rounds.
So, this tank cannot use standard NATO shells that use smooth-bore guns.
50 rounds are stored.
The effective range of fire with armor-piercing rounds is over 3000 m.
The Challenger gun claims the longest-distance tank kill in history.
During the Gulf War, it defeated an Iraqi tank at a range of 4 km or 2.5 miles.
The Challenger 2 is also armed with a L94A1 EX-34 7.62 mm chain gun and a 7.62 mm L37A2
(GPMG) machine gun.
The T-90's main armament is the 2A46M 125mm smoothbore tank gun.
It can fire armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS), high-explosive
anti-tank (HEAT-FS), and high-explosive fragmentation (HE-FRAG) ammunition, and 9M119M Refleks anti-tank
guided missiles.
While 9M119M anti-tank guided missiles have good accuracy at long ranges up to 5 km or
3.1 miles, it is not very useful against modern tanks since it has hollow charge.
The secondary armament consists of NSV 12.7mm remotely controlled anti-aircraft heavy machine
gun that can be operated from within the tank by the commander and the PKMT 7.62mm coaxial
machine gun.
There is not much to see choose between them.
As evident, Challenger 2 is an overall better tank.
While the difference may not be much on paper, on the ground, it would be significantly greater.
There are 4 reasons for it: 1.
T-90 has many variants and not all are equally good.
For example, T-90M & 90MS have the best engine compared to other variants.
2.
Too many variants also make maintenance & repairs hard.
3.
Not everything works as advertised.
In most cases, Russian platforms are known to underperform.
4.
Due to corruption, the tanks may not have all the things in proper working condition.
We also need to understand that in tank battles, the training of the crew is also crucial.