Chieftain Main Battle Tank
The Chieftain was a radical evolutionary development of the successful Centurion line of tanks that had emerged at the end of WWII. The British had learned during the war that their tanks often lacked sufficient protection and firepower compared to those fielded by the enemy, and that this had led to high casualty levels when faced with the superior German tanks. Leyland, who had been involved in Centurion, had built their own prototypes of a new tank design in 1956, and these led to a War Office specification for a new tank. The design was accepted in the early 1960s.
Chieftain was designed to be as well protected as possible and to be equipped with a powerful rifled cannon. The heavy armour came at the price of reduced mobility, chiefly due to engine power limitations, which was perhaps the Chieftain's main drawback. The design included a heavily sloped hull and turret which greatly increased the effective thickness of the frontal armour - 388mm on the glacis (from an actual thickness of 120mm), and 390mm on the turret (from 195mm).
It had a mantleless turret, in order to take full advantage of reclining the vehicle up to 10° in a hull-down position. The driver lay semi-recumbent in the hull when his hatch was closed down which helped to reduce overall height. The commander, gunner and loader were situated in the turret. To the left side of the turret was a large IR searchlight in an armoured housing. The suspension was of the Horstmann bogie type, with large side plates to protect the tracks and provide stand-off protection from hollow charge attack.
The main armament was the 120mm L11A5 rifled gun. This differed from most contemporary main tank armament as it used projectiles and charges which were loaded separately, as opposed to a single fixed round. The charges were encased in combustible bags which were stored in 36 recesses surrounded by water jackets. In the event of a hit which penetrated the fighting compartment, the water jacket would rupture, soaking the charges and preventing a catastrophic ammunition explosion. The gun itself could fire a wide range of ammunition, but the most commonly loaded types were HESH (high-explosive squash head) or APDS (armour-piercing discarding sabot), or practice round equivalents for both types.
When first introduced, a 12.7mm ranging machine-gun was mounted above the main gun. Later, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, a Barr and Stroud laser rangefinder replaced it. This allowed engagements at much longer ranges, and also could be linked to the fire-control system, allowing more rapid engagements and changes of target. The gun was fully stabilised with a fully computerised integrated control system. The secondary armament consisted of a coaxial L8A1 7.62mm machine gun, and another 7.62mm machine gun mounted on the commander's cupola.
Like its European competitors, the Chieftain found a large export market in the Middle East, but unlike the earlier Centurion, it was not adopted by any other NATO or Commonwealth countries.
Chieftain Main Battle Tank
The Chieftain was a radical evolutionary development of the successful Centurion line of tanks that had emerged at the end of WWII. The British had learned during the war that their tanks often lacked sufficient protection and firepower compared to those fielded by the enemy, and that this had led to high casualty levels when faced with the superior German tanks. Leyland, who had been involved in Centurion, had built their own prototypes of a new tank design in 1956, and these led to a War Office specification for a new tank. The design was accepted in the early 1960s.
Chieftain was designed to be as well protected as possible and to be equipped with a powerful rifled cannon. The heavy armour came at the price of reduced mobility, chiefly due to engine power limitations, which was perhaps the Chieftain's main drawback. The design included a heavily sloped hull and turret which greatly increased the effective thickness of the frontal armour - 388mm on the glacis (from an actual thickness of 120mm), and 390mm on the turret (from 195mm).
It had a mantleless turret, in order to take full advantage of reclining the vehicle up to 10° in a hull-down position. The driver lay semi-recumbent in the hull when his hatch was closed down which helped to reduce overall height. The commander, gunner and loader were situated in the turret. To the left side of the turret was a large IR searchlight in an armoured housing. The suspension was of the Horstmann bogie type, with large side plates to protect the tracks and provide stand-off protection from hollow charge attack.
The main armament was the 120mm L11A5 rifled gun. This differed from most contemporary main tank armament as it used projectiles and charges which were loaded separately, as opposed to a single fixed round. The charges were encased in combustible bags which were stored in 36 recesses surrounded by water jackets. In the event of a hit which penetrated the fighting compartment, the water jacket would rupture, soaking the charges and preventing a catastrophic ammunition explosion. The gun itself could fire a wide range of ammunition, but the most commonly loaded types were HESH (high-explosive squash head) or APDS (armour-piercing discarding sabot), or practice round equivalents for both types.
When first introduced, a 12.7mm ranging machine-gun was mounted above the main gun. Later, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, a Barr and Stroud laser rangefinder replaced it. This allowed engagements at much longer ranges, and also could be linked to the fire-control system, allowing more rapid engagements and changes of target. The gun was fully stabilised with a fully computerised integrated control system. The secondary armament consisted of a coaxial L8A1 7.62mm machine gun, and another 7.62mm machine gun mounted on the commander's cupola.
Like its European competitors, the Chieftain found a large export market in the Middle East, but unlike the earlier Centurion, it was not adopted by any other NATO or Commonwealth countries.