Armor: March 2, 2002

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The British Army has received the last of the 386 Challenger-2 main battle tanks it has ordered. No new orders are likely, although 33 Titan bridgelayers and 33 Trojan engineer vehicles are on order using the Challenger chassis. The British are considering several improvements to the Challenger-2, but all depend on finding the money in a tight budget. They want to replace some subsystems with more reliable types that would have a lower life cycle cost. They want to replace the 1200hp engines with the 1500hp German-built EuroPowerPack. Most of all, they want to give the commander a full-view thermal sight, allowing "hunter-killer" tactics where the tank commander searches for a new target while the gunner dispatches the one previously found.--Stephen V Cole