New tank, new ammunition – increasing the Challenger 3’s firepower
The in-development RBSL Challenger 3 MBT is armed with the latest version of the Rheinmetall 120mm L55A1 high-pressure chrome-lined smoothbore gun fitted with a thermal sleeve, fume extractor and a muzzle reference system. This setup allows projectiles to be fired with a higher maximum pressure with claimed greater accuracy and less barrel wear.
The current Challenger 2 is fitted with a Royal Ordnance 120mm L30A1 rifled gun which fires separate loading ammunition, projectile and charge, with the main war shot being an L23A1 armour-piercing fin-stabilised discarding sabot – tracer (APFSDS-T) with a depleted uranium (DU) penetrator for maximum target penetration... Continues below
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Above: The Rheinmetall L55A1 smoothbore gun of the Challenger 3 will fire a new 120mm Enhanced Kinetic Energy round. (Photo: Rheinmetall)
The UK can no longer make projectiles with DU and only the US in NATO is using this type of round due to environmental concerns. For their part, the Russians have deployed 125mm projectiles featuring DU.
Northrop Grumman has already decided to cease production of projectiles with a DU penetrator, both in 120mm and smaller calibres, making the option wholly unavailable.
The main war shot of the Challenger 3 will therefore be a 120mm Enhanced Kinetic Energy (EKE) round which is being developed under a German/UK government-to-government agreement.
It will feature a combustible cartridge, propellant and a new long-rod fin-stabilised penetrator of advanced design. Once fired all that remains is the stub of the cartridge case which is ejected into a bin.
In addition to the 120mm EKE, the L55A1 gun can also fire Rheinmetall’s 120mm DM11 Air Bursting Munition round which has been deployed for some years.
DM11 is the replacement for the older DM12 high-explosive anti-tank multi-purpose tracer (HEAT-MP-T) round which is no longer effective against more recent armour arrays.
The DM11 has also been referred to as a high-explosive fragmentation – tracer (HE-FRAG-T) or multi-purpose high-explosive-tracer (MP-HE-T).
The DM11 has a time-delay fuze with the electronic module on the breech giving different modes to detonate the round at a specific point in the projectile’s flight path. The round can be timed to explode for maximum effect either above, in front of or inside a target (such as after penetrating a wall).
Another feature of the DM11 is that it is insensitive munition (IM) compliant, enhancing crew survivability.
It is typically used against dismounted infantry as well as being used to breech battlefield obstacles.
Above: A brick wall after being penetrated by a 120mm DM11 projectile, which will also form part of the Challenger 3’s arsenal. (Photo: Rheinmetall)
The first example of the Challenger 3 is currently at the main Rheinmetall Unterlüß facility in Germany where the 120mm smoothbore gun and its suite of ammunition is produced.
While BAE Systems is prime contractor for the ammunition fired by the Challenger 2, at present it is not involved in the 120mm EKE programme according to a company spokesperson.
Under current plans only 148 Challenger 2s are to be upgraded to Challenger 3 standard and it remains to be seen as to whether this number is sufficient to enable production of the 120mm EKE round to be undertaken in the UK.
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Complex problems – four issues the armoured vehicle industry needs to tackle
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