Chieftain tank

Chieftain (FV4201)
Chieftain Mk 10 or Mk 11 with Stillbrew Crew Protection Package.
Type	Main battle tank
Place of origin	United Kingdom
Service history
In service	1966 – 1995
Used by	UK, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman
Wars	Iran–Iraq War, Iraq-Kuwait War
Production history
Manufacturer	Leyland Motors
Specifications
Weight	55 long tons (62 short tons; 56 t)
Length	35 ft 4 in (10.77 m) - gun forward 7.5 m (24 ft 7 in) - hull
Width	12 ft 0 in (3.66 m)
Height	2.9 m (9 ft 6 in)
Crew	4
Armour	Glacis: 120 mm (4.7 in) (72°) Hull sides: 38 mm (1.5 in) (10°) Turret: 195 mm (7.7 in) (60°)
Main armament	L11A5 120 mm rifled gun
Secondary armament	2 x L7 Machine Gun
Engine	Leyland L60 (multifuel 2 stroke compression-ignition) 750 hp (560 kW) 12 Cyl, 26.1 litres.
Power/weight	11.1 bhp/ton (at sprocket)
Transmission	TN 12
Suspension	Horstmann
Ground clearance	1 ft 10 in (0.56 m))
Fuel capacity	195 Imperial gallons)
Operational range	500 km (310 miles) on roads
Speed	Road: 48 km/h (30 mph) Off road: 30 km/h (19 mph)

The FV 4201 Chieftain was the main battle tank of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s. It was one of the most advanced tanks of its era, and at the time of its introduction in 1966 had the most powerful main gun and most effective armour of any tank in the world. The Chieftain also introduced a supine (reclining backwards) driver position, enabling a heavily sloped hull with reduced height.

Development

The Chieftain was a radical evolutionary development of the successful Centurion line of tanks that had emerged at the end of the Second World War. 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 in World War II. The Centurion addressed this to a great degree, combining higher levels of armour and an improved gun, which made it at least equal to any of the contemporary main battle tanks. However, the introduction of the Soviet IS-3 heavy tank forced the introduction of their own Conqueror heavy tank, armed with a 120 mm (4.7 in) gun. A single design combining the firepower of the Conqueror's 120 mm gun with the mobility and general usefulness of the Centurion would be ideal.

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 General Staff specification drew on experience of the Centurion in the Korean War and the Conqueror. The tank was expected to be able to engage the enemy at long range and from defensive positions, be proof against medium artillery. To this end, the gun was to have a greater angle of depression than the 8 degrees of Conqueror and better frontal armour. The tank was expected to achieve 10 rounds per minute in the first minute and six per minute for the following four.

The first few prototypes were provided for troop trials from 1959, this identified a number of changes. Changes to address engine vibration and cooling resulted in redesign of the rear hull. This increased to the design weight to nearly 50 tons and as such the suspension (which had been designed for 45 tons) was strengthened. Track pads had to be fitted to protect German roads from damage and the ground clearance increased. The design was accepted in the early 1960s.

In 1957 NATO had specified that its forces should use multi-fuel engines. The early BL Engine delivered around 450 bhp (340 kW) to the sprocket which meant a top road speed of around 25 mph (40 km/h) and cross country performance was limited. This was further hampered by the Horstmann coil spring suspension, which made it a challenge to drive cross country and provide the crew with a comfortable ride. Due to the cylinder linings being pressure fitted, coolant leaks within the cylinder block were common, resulting in white smoke billowing from the exhaust.

In the late 1970s engine design changed with the introduction of Belzona which was used to improve the lining seals. Engine output also increased with later engines delivering some 850 bhp (630 kW) to the sprocket. This meant better performance and an increased speed. Cross-country performance remained limited, however.

Several aspects of the Chieftain design were trialled by the production of the FV4202 "40-ton Centurion" with a reclined driver position and mantleless gun mounting.

Design

The Chieftain design included a heavily sloped hull and turret which greatly increased the effective thickness of the frontal armour - 388 mm (15.3 in) on the glacis (from an actual thickness of 120 mm (4.7 in)), and 390 mm (15.4 in) on the turret (from 195 mm (7.7 in)). It had a mantletless turret, in order to take full advantage of reclining the vehicle up to ten degrees 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 infra-red searchlight in an armoured housing.

The Leyland L60 engine is a two-stroke opposed piston design intended for multi-fuel use so that it could run on petrol or diesel or anything in between. In practice the engine did not deliver the expected power, and was unreliable, estimated to have a 90% breakdown rate, but improvements were introduced to address this. Primary problems included, cylinder liner failure, fan drive problems and perpetual leaks due to vibration and badly routed pipework. However, as the engine power improved the tank itself became heavier.

The tank was steered by conventional tillers hydraulically actuating onto external brake discs. The discs worked via the epicyclic gearbox providing "regenerative" steering. In reality the discs and pads became soaked in oil and diesel and the steering became difficult.^{[citation needed]} The gearbox was operated motorcycle-style with a kick up/kick down "peg" on the left which actuated electro-hydraulic units in the gearbox; the accelerator was cable operated by the right foot. In the turret the loader was on the left and the gunner on the right of the gun with the commander behind the gunner. 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.

Chieftain display at the Bovington tank museum, 2006

The main armament was the 120 mm 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. Other tank guns, such as on the Conqueror, needed to store the spent shell cartridges or eject them outside. The combustible charges were stored in 36 recesses surrounded by a pressurized water/glycol mixture - so-called "wet-stowage". In the event of a hit which penetrated the fighting compartment, the jacket would rupture, soaking the charges and preventing a catastrophic propellant explosion. As there was no shell case, the firing of the charge was by vent tubes automatically loaded from a magazine on the breech. Due to the length of the gun which required balancing and the need for storage space, the turret has a large overhang to the rear. This contains radios, ammunition, fire control equipment and has further stowage externally.

The gun could fire a wide range of ammunition, but the most commonly loaded types were high explosive squash head (HESH), armour-piercing discarding sabot (APDS), or practice round equivalents for both types. The Chieftain could store up to 62 projectiles (though a maximum of 36 APDS, limited by the propellant stowage). The gun was fully stabilised with a fully computerized integrated control system. The secondary armament consisted of a coaxial L8A1 7.62 mm machine gun, and another 7.62 mm machine gun mounted on the commander's cupola.

The Chieftain had an NBC protection system, which the Centurion lacked.

The initial Fire-control system (FCS) was the Marconi FV/GCE Mk 4. A .50 inch (12.7 mm) ranging gun was mounted above the main gun (with 300 rounds available). This fired ranging shots out to a maximum of 2,600 yards (2,400 m), at which point the tracer in the ranging rounds burned out. The tank commander had a rotating cupola with nine vision blocks -giving all round view - and a periscope, plus the 7.62 mm machine-gun and an infrared (IR) projector coaxial with the weapon. The aiming systems were provided for both gunner and tank commander; they had 1x or 8x selectable magnification power, and they were replaceable with IR vision systems for the night operations (3x magnification power). The commander could rotate his cuplola to bring his sight onto a target and then engage the mechanism that brought the turret round on to the correct bearing so that the gunner could complete the aiming.

The left side of the turret had a large white light/infra-red searchlight inside an armoured box. It had a relatively long range for this kind of system – up to 1–1.5 kilometres (0.62–0.93 mi).

From the beginning of the 1970s, the Mk 3/3 version replaced the ranging gun with a Barr and Stroud LF-2 laser rangefinder with a 10 km (6.2 mi) range. 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.

From the Mk 5 onwards, fire control was provided by the Marconi IFCS (Improved Fire Control System), using a digital ballistic computer. The upgrade was not finished until the end of 1980, when some examples (but not the majority) had the IR searchlight replaced with TOGS, the Thermal imaging system already fitted to the Challenger. Many examples had Stillbrew armour as well, meant to face Soviet 125 mm tank guns and heavy anti-tank missiles. These became the Mark 13 version.

Service

Chieftain tanks of 14th/20th King's Hussars on parade with urban camouflage, Straße des 17. Juni, West Berlin, 18 June 1989.

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.

The Chieftain proved itself capable in combat and able to be upgraded with enhancements both for overall improvement and to meet local requirements. The Chieftain tanks were continuously upgraded until the early 1990s when they were replaced by the Challenger series of tanks whose design was influenced by that of Chieftain. The final Chieftain version used by the British Army until 1995, incorporated "Stillbrew" armour named after Colonel Still and John Brewer from the Military Vehicles and Engineering Establishment (MVEE), the Improved Fire Control System (IFCS) and the Thermal Observation Gunnery Sight (TOGS).

The first Chieftain model was introduced in 1967. Chieftains were supplied to at least six countries, including Iran, Kuwait, Oman and Jordan. An agreement for sale of Chieftains to Israel was cancelled by the British Government in 1969, despite considerable Israeli technical and tactical input into the development of the tank, especially in desert environments, and the use of Hull-down to maximum effect in the final design. This experience spurred the creation of the indigenous Israeli Merkava tank, the development programme led by General Israel Tal, who had worked closely with the British in the Anglo-Israeli Chieftain project. The largest foreign sale was to Iran, which took delivery of 707 Mk-3P and Mk-5P, 125–189 FV-4030-1, 41 ARV and 14 AVLB before the 1979 revolution. Further planned deliveries of the more capable 4030 series were cancelled at that point. The tank's main combat experience was in the Iran–Iraq War of 1980-88.

Specifications

• Crew: 4
• Combat weight: 55 tons
• Overall length: 10.8 m (35 ft 5.2 in) gun forward
• Hull length: 7.5 m (24 ft 7.3 in)
• Height: 2.9 m (9 ft 6.2 in)
• Width: 3.5 m (11 ft 5.8 in)
• Powerplant: Leyland L60 (diesel, multi-fuel compression ignition) 695 bhp (518 kW)
• Range: 500 km (310 mi)
• Maximum road speed: 48 km/h (30 mph)
• Cross-country speed: 30 km/h (19 mph)
• Armour: turret front, 195 mm (7.7 in) RHA (60°)

Armament

• 120 mm L11A5 rifled tank gun
  • Rate of fire: 8 rounds per minute
  • Elevation: -10 to +20 degree
  • Laser rangefinder
• Coaxial L8A1 7.62 mm machine gun
• Cupola-mounted L37A1 7.62mm machine gun

Mark 1 and Mark 2 models had coaxial .50 inch (12.7 mm) ranging machine guns prior to the introduction of the laser rangefinder.

Equipment

• Twin Clansman VRC 353 VHF Radio sets
• 1 C42 1 B47 Larkspur VHF radios
• 2 X 6-barrel smoke dischargers on turret

• Bulldozer blade (optional - fitted to one tank per squadron)

Variants

Chieftain Mk 1

40 training vehicles for 1965–1966. Issued to 1 RTR and 5 RTR for troop trials.

Chieftain Mk 2 

First service model with 650 hp engine.

Chieftain Mk 3

Extra equipment fitted giving rise to several sub-marks. New cupola.

Chieftain Mk.5 

Final production variant, with upgrades to the engine and NBC protection system.

Chieftain Mk.6-9 

Incremental upgrades to earlier Marks of tanks, including addition of Clansman radios.

Chieftain Mk.10 

Mark 9 upgrade, addition of Stillbrew Crew Protection Package to the turret front and turret ring.

Chieftain Mk.11 

Mark 10 upgrade, searchlight replaced with the Thermal Observation and Gunnery System (TOGS), manufactured by Barr and Stroud.

Chieftain Mk.12/13 

Proposed further upgrades, cancelled when the Challenger 2 was introduced.

Chieftain 900 

Chieftain with Chobham armour

FV4205 AVLB

Bridge-laying vehicle

FV4204 ARV/ARRV 

Armoured Recovery Vehicle, Armoured Recovery and Repair Vehicle.

British Army 31 Armoured Engineer Squadron Chieftain AVRE in Canada

Chieftain AVRE

Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers, a British Army combat engineering variant used by the Royal Engineers.

Chieftain Marksman

self-propelled anti-aircraft gun version, equipped with the Marksman twin gun turret.

Chieftain Mineclearer 

Mine-clearing development.

Chieftain Sabre 

Twin 30 mm AA turret.

Khalid variant

Khalid (also designated 4030P2J - P = Phase & J = Jordan)/Shir (Lion) 1 

Jordanian with the running gear of the Challenger 1. Basically this was a transition vehicle from the Chieftain to the Shir 2 which had been intended for Iran but was subsequently cancelled. The Shir 2 tanks became Challenger 1 tanks after reworking at ROF Leeds. The vehicle chassis comprised the front half of a Chieftain Hull, Chieftain running gear and the rear of a 4030/2 Chassis (Sloping Hull). This allowed the fitment in the engine bay of a Rolls-Royce CV8 engine.

Weapon Carriers 

The Chieftain chassis was modified to mount air defence weapons ("Marksman" 2 x 35 mm cannon) and a 155 mm howitzer in various modifications.

Shir 2 

Iranian variant. Visible external differences from the Chieftain Mk.5 included a sloping rear hull, Removal of the Searchlight from the left turret area and storage baskets refitted, water channel removed from around drivers hatch on the glacis plate, modified light clusters also on the glacis plate, Larger sight housing on commanders cupola.

Mobarez Tank 

Iranian upgraded version of the Chieftain.

Operators

• United Kingdom: Used from 1965 to 1995.
• Iran: 707 Mk-3P and Mk-5P, 125–189 FV-4030-1, 41 ARV and 14 AVLB obtained before the 1979 revolution. Further planned deliveries of the more capable 4030 series were cancelled at that point. 100 in service as of 2005. (100 in 1990, 250 in 1995, 140 in 2000, 200 in 2002).
• Iraq: 30 tanks in service with Iraqi Army in 1990. All destroyed or scrapped.^{[citation needed]}
• Jordan: 274 Khalid delivered between 1981-1985 + 90 MK5/5 From Iraq. 350 in service^{[citation needed]}
• Kuwait: 175 in 1976, 45 in 1989, 20 in 1995, 17 in storage in 2000.
• Oman: 27 delivered 1981–85.

See also

• Centurion tank
• Merkava tank (Early marques)
• M60 tank
• T-62
• T-72
• T-64 : Approximate Soviet equivalent

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Norman, Michael, AFV Profile No. 18 Chieftain and Leopard (Development), Profile Publishing 

External links

• FAS.org