Challenger 1

The Challenger 1 is a British main battle tank built by the Royal Ordnance Factory, entering British Army service in 1983 and remaining in front-line use until 2001, with 420 built between 1983 and 1990. Weighing 62 tonnes in its standard configuration and armed with the Royal Ordnance L11A5 120mm rifled gun, driven by a 1,200 horsepower Perkins CV12 diesel engine, the tank pioneered the composite Chobham armor that later influenced the design of the American M1 Abrams. During the 1991 Gulf War, British Challenger 1 tanks destroyed roughly 300 Iraqi tanks without a single combat loss, including a record tank-on-tank kill at a range of 5,100 meters using depleted uranium ammunition, and after British retirement the type continued in Royal Jordanian Army service under the local name Al-Hussein from 1999 until 2023.