FV4034 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (British Army)

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ArmChairCivvy
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Re: FV4034 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (British Army)

Post by ArmChairCivvy »

Tempest414 wrote:steel , weapons , sub units and as seen from the frigate builds parts come from all over the world and are put together in the yards of which ever country
Not trying to be 'funny' but when I read this, I thought about T-31 and not T26
- a base design, modified in a way that the 'customer' kept a close look on
- them sourced w/o constraints, so that the price would come in 'right'
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
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Re: FV4034 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (British Army)

Post by Tempest414 »

The point is weather it is eurofighter or frigates or tanks work share is now a thing in most projects and is doable

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Re: FV4034 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (British Army)

Post by TheLoneRanger »

Tempest414 wrote:The point is weather it is eurofighter or frigates or tanks work share is now a thing in most projects and is doable
Yes, work share is common and how modern systems now are built. The point of most of the people on this forum is that both France and Germany are untrustworthy countries who look to undermine the UK is all aspects at every opportunity, and the toxic manner in which they handled Brexit means they should not be treated as friends or allies at all now. They are our strategic competitors, and also the enemy now..

There are better more trustworthy workshare partners out there for the UK like the USA ... and we have more in common with them, then the foreign speaking muck just over the channel ...

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Luke jones
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Re: FV4034 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (British Army)

Post by Luke jones »

TheLoneRanger wrote:
Tempest414 wrote:The point is weather it is eurofighter or frigates or tanks work share is now a thing in most projects and is doable
Yes, work share is common and how modern systems now are built. The point of most of the people on this forum is that both France and Germany are untrustworthy countries who look to undermine the UK is all aspects at every opportunity, and the toxic manner in which they handled Brexit means they should not be treated as friends or allies at all now. They are our strategic competitors, and also the enemy now..

There are better more trustworthy workshare partners out there for the UK like the USA ... and we have more in common with them, then the foreign speaking muck just over the channel ...
Bit strong with your words i think there. I really don't think calling France and Germany the 'Enemy' and 'foreign speaking muck' is acceptable really.

I do get the issue with difficulties with partnerships with those countries, but come on.

I say that as an ardent Brexiteer aswell.

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Re: FV4034 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (British Army)

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Tempest414 wrote:The point is weather it is eurofighter or frigates or tanks work share is now a thing in most projects and is doable
Eurofighter, where France pulled out and partner disagreement has caused delays and cost.
Tanks, such as MRAV , where France pulled out and then the UK did, or MBT80 where it all fell through?
Frigates, like the Type 26 where its being licensed to other countries, not developed under work share agreements.

I think that the current feeling is that trying to split up the design and build from the start doesn’t make the savings claimed.

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Re: FV4034 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (British Army)

Post by Lord Jim »

If we follow the T-26 idea, there might be a chance of success if the UK designed a Challenger replacement then licenced it to both Canada and Australia, who in return would also provide sub assemblies for all three countries. Other items like the Gun and Power Pack may come form the three members or from outside, the Rheinmetall 120mm being one option for the former, and MTU providing the latter.

However would the quantities required in total by all three nations justify such a project, we are looking at less than 400 Tanks and support vehicles in total here. Also we would be in competition with both the USA and France/Germany in the field of a next generation platform, not just for exports but for both Canada and Australia, so we would have to offer something different in the ways the capabilities of our platform were balanced as well as keeping costs competitive.

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Re: FV4034 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (British Army)

Post by ArmChairCivvy »

Luke jones wrote:Bit strong with your words i think there. I really don't think calling France and Germany the 'Enemy' and 'foreign speaking muck' is acceptable really.

I do get the issue with difficulties with partnerships with those countries, but come on.
I trust 100% :) that the mods know how the enemy can operate behind enemy lines.
Lord Jim wrote:However would the quantities required in total by all three nations justify such a project, we are looking at less than 400 Tanks and support vehicles in total here.
As I said earlier, the Polish need for 500-ish replacements from 2028 onwards seems to 'trump' those quantities
- of course with Ft. Trump there, they might be given the odd-hundreds of M-1s and would only need to pay for the modernisation (sorry, polonisation) work on them
- happened with Morocco (where's the threat?) and Greece, of late
- how many thousands of xtra M-1s have been ordered just to make sure that there is a 'hot' production line
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)

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Re: FV4034 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (British Army)

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TheLoneRanger wrote:
Tempest414 wrote:The point is weather it is eurofighter or frigates or tanks work share is now a thing in most projects and is doable
Yes, work share is common and how modern systems now are built. The point of most of the people on this forum is that both France and Germany are untrustworthy countries who look to undermine the UK is all aspects at every opportunity, and the toxic manner in which they handled Brexit means they should not be treated as friends or allies at all now. They are our strategic competitors, and also the enemy now..

There are better more trustworthy workshare partners out there for the UK like the USA ... and we have more in common with them, then the foreign speaking muck just over the channel ...
Really wow its not like the good old US has ever fucked the little old UK over is it, Its time you put your big boy pants on and leaned that all countries screw each other over to get the best for there own.

And by the way if you had taken the time to read my last few posts you would have seen I have been putting forward a Commonwealth tank option with Australia and Canada maybe even India but then India maybe the wrong skin tone for you to work with

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Re: FV4034 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (British Army)

Post by Tempest414 »

mr.fred wrote:
Tempest414 wrote:The point is weather it is eurofighter or frigates or tanks work share is now a thing in most projects and is doable
Eurofighter, where France pulled out and partner disagreement has caused delays and cost.
Tanks, such as MRAV , where France pulled out and then the UK did, or MBT80 where it all fell through?
Frigates, like the Type 26 where its being licensed to other countries, not developed under work share agreements.

I think that the current feeling is that trying to split up the design and build from the start doesn’t make the savings claimed.
I didn't say it was cheap but the fact is we can't design and build a tank on our own on the cheap work share is here to stay and if we want something that is not Euro pack or US we will need to find partner's

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Re: FV4034 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (British Army)

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Tempest414 wrote:the fact is we can't design and build a tank on our own on the cheap work share is here to stay and if we want something that is not Euro pack or US we will need to find partner's
When it was the time to start to look at the next thing, after Centurion, we had a (secret) project with Israel... and after 20 yrs of it going nowhere, they went there own way: Merkava 1,2,3,4

We did Chally1 (was so bad that we donated them), Ch2 (not bad) and now: Ch3 is starting to look good
- we should be into the 4th edition :!: though, by now
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)

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Re: FV4034 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (British Army)

Post by mr.fred »

Tempest414 wrote:I didn't say it was cheap but the fact is we can't design and build a tank on our own on the cheap work share is here to stay and if we want something that is not Euro pack or US we will need to find partner's
I cited two cases where one of the original partners left a collaboration and made their own and another that worked on a different model. These can be used as examples that it is possible to go it alone rather than seek workshare agreements at the start.
It’s likely that some components would not be locally sourced, but I reckon one could make an AFV from UK-based firms if that was required. Gun and ammunition design would have to be licensed or rebuilt (at some considerable cost) but otherwise the facilities exist.
To make the lowest risk MBT it would be sensible to import or license some systems but to base a vehicle with a 2030’s in service date entirely on current technology (particularly automotives) would be a mistake.

I think that in order to get people on board to cover the cost of bringing a vehicle from prototype to production requires product, not promises. So the start is to produce a prototype (or several)

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Re: FV4034 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (British Army)

Post by ArmChairCivvy »

mr.fred wrote: the start is to produce a prototype (or several)
I love that photo-gallery of pics where men in white coats - from The establishment - inspect the first CVR(T) prototype
... find it @TD

Those were the days; how can we get even close (I know we can't get back to that set up)?
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)

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Re: FV4034 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (British Army)

Post by Tempest414 »

mr.fred wrote:
Tempest414 wrote:I didn't say it was cheap but the fact is we can't design and build a tank on our own on the cheap work share is here to stay and if we want something that is not Euro pack or US we will need to find partner's
I cited two cases where one of the original partners left a collaboration and made their own and another that worked on a different model. These can be used as examples that it is possible to go it alone rather than seek workshare agreements at the start.
It’s likely that some components would not be locally sourced, but I reckon one could make an AFV from UK-based firms if that was required. Gun and ammunition design would have to be licensed or rebuilt (at some considerable cost) but otherwise the facilities exist.
To make the lowest risk MBT it would be sensible to import or license some systems but to base a vehicle with a 2030’s in service date entirely on current technology (particularly automotives) would be a mistake.

I think that in order to get people on board to cover the cost of bringing a vehicle from prototype to production requires product, not promises. So the start is to produce a prototype (or several)
I have no doubt that the UK can design and build its own MBT from a tec point of view its weather it has the political will and money. However I to would like to see us try after all we have designed and built our own aircraft carriers , Frigates , SSN , SSBN but as said if not I would like us to try for a Commonwealth program rather than go with Euro tank or the US

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Re: FV4034 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (British Army)

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Tempest414 wrote:
mr.fred wrote:
Tempest414 wrote:I didn't say it was cheap but the fact is we can't design and build a tank on our own on the cheap work share is here to stay and if we want something that is not Euro pack or US we will need to find partner's
I cited two cases where one of the original partners left a collaboration and made their own and another that worked on a different model. These can be used as examples that it is possible to go it alone rather than seek workshare agreements at the start.
It’s likely that some components would not be locally sourced, but I reckon one could make an AFV from UK-based firms if that was required. Gun and ammunition design would have to be licensed or rebuilt (at some considerable cost) but otherwise the facilities exist.
To make the lowest risk MBT it would be sensible to import or license some systems but to base a vehicle with a 2030’s in service date entirely on current technology (particularly automotives) would be a mistake.

I think that in order to get people on board to cover the cost of bringing a vehicle from prototype to production requires product, not promises. So the start is to produce a prototype (or several)
I have no doubt that the UK can design and build its own MBT from a tec point of view its weather it has the political will and money. However I to would like to see us try after all we have designed and built our own aircraft carriers , Frigates , SSN , SSBN but as said if not I would like us to try for a Commonwealth program rather than go with Euro tank or the US
Iv been following the last few days of this descution and to be honest I do like the idea of a “commonwealth” MBT with our selves Aus and Canada as both of theirs will need to be renewed by the early 2030s. The question I have though is even with all 3 nations will the order be large enough unless all 3 up there numbers, as I can see right now would be an ordered of only around 400 odd if we go like for like.

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Re: FV4034 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (British Army)

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keeping with the Commonwealth Singapore would need to replace its 150+ plus the like of Oman could push the number up to 600 or 700 . I also think once you have a group like that exports may come however the UK would need to commit to 200+

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Re: FV4034 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (British Army)

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Yes there will be a lot of potential customers for a next generation Tank in the mid 2030s, but there is going to be stiff competition, not just from the traditional culprits like the USA and a Franco/German collaborations, but newer producers like Korea and Turkey and the Former could be in a very strong position if they win the IFV contract.

By the way why do the Australian Army need over 400 modern IFVs yet we seem to need less than 300? Ok they only have one Armoured Regiment but they also will have cavalry in Boxers and Light Infantry in the Bushmaster and its successor. The argument that we have to maintain SSBNs and SSNs doesn't really hold water when it comes to how much bang for your buck they and us manage to get. Their Navy is going to end up with 15 high end Escorts and 12 state of the art conventional submarines with AIP. Their Air Force will have around five fast jet squadrons with more than adequate transport, tanker, ISTAR support as well. All this doesn't show the UK in a good light which is a bit depressing.

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Re: FV4034 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (British Army)

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The makers on one of best and most successful main battle tanks in the world is currently setting up a major production facility in the UK to build boxer. Suggestions here seem to be going out of the way to conjure up tie ups with every one but the one that’s staring us in the face. Long term industrial strategy investment development there isn’t much need to over think it.

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Re: FV4034 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (British Army)

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SW1 wrote:The makers on one of best and most successful main battle tanks in the world is currently setting up a major production facility in the UK to build boxer. Suggestions here seem to be going out of the way to conjure up tie ups with every one but the one that’s staring us in the face. Long term industrial strategy investment development there isn’t much need to over think it.
Wait until France and Germany build MCGS then see if we can license build?
Jake1992 wrote:The question I have though is even with all 3 nations will the order be large enough unless all 3 up there numbers, as I can see right now would be an ordered of only around 400 odd if we go like for like
I figure that they way to address the numbers problem is to widen the utility. Make it an MBT and IFV and AVRE and artillery and APC.
Plus go for heavy modularity on those items that can be readily changed, so you can scale the weight over as wide a range as possible. It’ll mostly be protection, but if modern automotive gear can be scaled to the GVW that might help as well. That way you could remove the need for a “medium weight” fleet of tracked vehicles.

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Re: FV4034 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (British Army)

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mr.fred wrote:
SW1 wrote:The makers on one of best and most successful main battle tanks in the world is currently setting up a major production facility in the UK to build boxer. Suggestions here seem to be going out of the way to conjure up tie ups with every one but the one that’s staring us in the face. Long term industrial strategy investment development there isn’t much need to over think it.
Wait until France and Germany build MCGS then see if we can license build?
Jake1992 wrote:The question I have though is even with all 3 nations will the order be large enough unless all 3 up there numbers, as I can see right now would be an ordered of only around 400 odd if we go like for like
I figure that they way to address the numbers problem is to widen the utility. Make it an MBT and IFV and AVRE and artillery and APC.
Plus go for heavy modularity on those items that can be readily changed, so you can scale the weight over as wide a range as possible. It’ll mostly be protection, but if modern automotive gear can be scaled to the GVW that might help as well. That way you could remove the need for a “medium weight” fleet of tracked vehicles.
In a word yes. I know this controversial but the interim step is license building leopard to replace challenger rather than the turret upgrade to challenger and use that as leverage to get the supply chain involved in MCGS which we would then license build as a follow on. As long as we are allowed the IP to modify and design/Integrate future systems in the UK.

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Re: FV4034 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (British Army)

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SW1 wrote:As long as we are allowed the IP to modify and design/Integrate future systems in the UK.
Why would we need that? If we’re just going to license build German kit, we’ll just take their upgrades as well.

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Re: FV4034 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (British Army)

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mr.fred wrote:
SW1 wrote:The makers on one of best and most successful main battle tanks in the world is currently setting up a major production facility in the UK to build boxer. Suggestions here seem to be going out of the way to conjure up tie ups with every one but the one that’s staring us in the face. Long term industrial strategy investment development there isn’t much need to over think it.
Wait until France and Germany build MCGS then see if we can license build?
Jake1992 wrote:The question I have though is even with all 3 nations will the order be large enough unless all 3 up there numbers, as I can see right now would be an ordered of only around 400 odd if we go like for like
I figure that they way to address the numbers problem is to widen the utility. Make it an MBT and IFV and AVRE and artillery and APC.
Plus go for heavy modularity on those items that can be readily changed, so you can scale the weight over as wide a range as possible. It’ll mostly be protection, but if modern automotive gear can be scaled to the GVW that might help as well. That way you could remove the need for a “medium weight” fleet of tracked vehicles.
Very much behind that idea (it is also similar to the line up building up behind Armata). Other than that only Merkava/ Namer have followed the logic - and for some reason the Namers were made in the USA (perhaps the hulls shipped over?).
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)

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Re: FV4034 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (British Army)

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mr.fred wrote:
SW1 wrote:As long as we are allowed the IP to modify and design/Integrate future systems in the UK.
Why would we need that? If we’re just going to license build German kit, we’ll just take their upgrades as well.
In very much the same way the RN acquired type 31 or the Australians type 26. We may chose different modifications at a different time, like a different communication system, perhaps a different defensive aid system or different add on armour packages.

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Re: FV4034 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (British Army)

Post by mr.fred »

SW1 wrote:In very much the same way the RN acquired type 31 or the Australians type 26. We may chose different modifications at a different time, like a different communication system, perhaps a different defensive aid system or different add on armour packages.
You want something different you ask the supplier. You don’t need IP for that.

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Re: FV4034 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (British Army)

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mr.fred wrote:
SW1 wrote:In very much the same way the RN acquired type 31 or the Australians type 26. We may chose different modifications at a different time, like a different communication system, perhaps a different defensive aid system or different add on armour packages.
You want something different you ask the supplier. You don’t need IP for that.
It’s better to have than not especially if your funding modifications that may mean the final configuration is sold on to others so you gain on that investment.

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Re: FV4034 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (British Army)

Post by Tempest414 »

Lord Jim wrote:By the way why do the Australian Army need over 400 modern IFVs yet we seem to need less than 300? Ok they only have one Armoured Regiment but they also will have cavalry in Boxers and Light Infantry in the Bushmaster and its successor. The argument that we have to maintain SSBNs and SSNs doesn't really hold water when it comes to how much bang for your buck they and us manage to get. Their Navy is going to end up with 15 high end Escorts and 12 state of the art conventional submarines with AIP. Their Air Force will have around five fast jet squadrons with more than adequate transport, tanker, ISTAR support as well. All this doesn't show the UK in a good light which is a bit depressing.
I find this interesting I am I missing something the UK have just ordered 580 Ajax's plus 500+ Boxer.

We have 300+ Jackal & Coyote , 600+ Foxhound & Husky , 300+ Mastiff Ridgeback & Wolfhound , 500+ Warrior & Bulldog , 250+ CVR(T)

So we should end up with 580 Ajax , 530 Boxer , 380 Warrior , 300+ Jackal , 390 Foxhound . if we added 600 Bushmaster's to this we would be in good shape .

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