Britain is working with industry to secure materials and reduce bottlenecks in the Challenger 3 upgrade programme, the UK Defence Journal understands.
Three questions were submitted by Labour MP Luke Akehurst, who asked about Challenger 3 production, tank and artillery lead times, and efforts to cut overall procurement timelines.
Defence Minister Luke Pollard said the Ministry of Defence is “working closely with the supply chain to ensure the timely development of Challenger 3,” adding that the department is focused on “securing the necessary materials, identifying opportunities and mitigating risk to deliver tanks to users as soon as practicable.”
On broader procurement timelines, Pollard cited the Defence Industrial Strategy, which currently estimates “an average of six years to contract for major defence platforms.” He noted that comparing lead times to other NATO countries is difficult because “differing procurement systems make direct comparisons challenging.”
Pollard said the MoD’s new segmented procurement model, supported by accelerated commercial pathways, is intended to cut timelines and move major programmes to contract faster. He reiterated that the department is “making progress towards the target date of 1 April 2026” for full implementation of the reformed approach, as set out in the Strategic Defence Review.
Increase order to 300 would be nice.
Any increase in production rates means increase in number which means increase in money.
The problem is that there needs to be a commitments pot of money on the table to fund 20 years of procurement.
The risk is you do that and the mega projects get greedy eyes: Tempest; DNE; SSNA and conventional ends up still scraping the bottom of the barrel.
I thought more money was going to procurement. Maybe there is a plan to potentially order more in the future once they speed up production?
They reactivated reserve Challenger 2’s recently didnt they?
No? Anything in the reserve is knackered or badly maintained
Just googled it, they brought back over 60 Challenger 2s into service.
It could be by transferring Challenger II parts to the reserve hulls as they are stripped for refurb?
Anything is possible if you have the will and are prepared to avoid the usual handwringing perfectionist nonsense.
True, would be awesome if it was more tanks though. I get warfare has changed, it always changes but tanks still have a part to play.
A Disingenuous attempt by Ministers to make the fleet look bigger than it is. Knackered hulls at Ashchurch stored in the rain or in hangers with leaking rooves left for decades added to the overall total.
For interest, Ashchurch has finally got investment and new builds going up as we speak.
Agree on Tank numbers. The Army needs more, but not the BAOR levels. It lacks the CS and CSS for that.
3 Regiments at T56 as planned post 2010 SDR with proper reserves is realistic. As it is, reserve and training / maint pool is wafer thin it is laughable.
69 according to Force Index. Would they have done this if they didn’t intend on ordering more than 148 C3? It could be to maintain numbers while the conversion work is ongoing, but lets hope the equipment plan calls for more.
They absolutely could have done it to keep the order at 148. Temporarily increase the CR2 fleet so that numbers are maintained as CR3’s go into production so that the fleet stays at strength.
Yeah, just found the article – brief and to the point. The picture looks like a Chally 2 mind 🙂 Nice close up.
According to Army Recognition, “On 30 October 2025, the United Kingdom published its annual statistical release UK armed forces equipment and formations 2025, in which the Ministry of Defence lists 288 Challenger 2 main battle tanks in the British Army inventory, compared with the 219 vehicles recorded in the 2024 edition.”
Yes; I think the objective is to maintain CR2 numbers as they are withdrawn for upgrade to CR3.
Elliot. They did not reactivate Attrition Reserve tanks. They should already be good to go, ideally. They are now counting some tanks on the Inactive list as active tanks which is ridiculous. It’s a pathetic smoke and mirrors game.
1,200 CHALLENGER 3 main battle tanks should be the correct order-enough to equip 5 Armoured divisions.After that start design work on another even better MBT=THE CHAMPION MAIN BATTLE TANK with a 130mm main armament.We also need to increase the British Army to 200,000 men and buy another 100 Apache attack helicopters.
Where’s all that money and manpower coming from? That’s tens of billions of pounds.
Let me help you back to your armchair
Fantasy Fleets I’m afraid. There were around 900 at BAOR peak in the late 80s fielded by 13 Armoured Regiments, 12 of which were in Germany.
In 3 Armoured Divisions.
We have a single undersized Armoured Division after Strike 2015 neatly cut one of the 3 Brigades.
We have 3 Regiments, and a lack of HETS to move them, and RLC railway capability not yet rebuilt.
Where are the REME, RLC, and people for such a force? Even if it were possible, which it isn’t, I’d spend such money on the RAF and the RN first.
We do need a bigger army to rebuild missing CS CSS, we don’t need a force that size given our geostrategic position.
Yup when I joined in 78 there were 900 cheifys in service
And how are you going to a) pay for all that and b) recruit 200,000 troops?
It’s a nice thought but pure fantasy.
Increasing to 180-200 tanks would be a nice start.
Personally, I’d rather extra money go towards additional Typhoons, F-35s, ships, submarines and/or increasing weapons stocks.
I assume this is an attempt at humour Simon. At the very least what would be the point of another 100 Apaches. With recent events they are working hard to work out ways of keeping those they have viable and survivable. Maybe they can find a true survivable role for them, that would be great but spending money on increasing the potential risk that they can’t would be madness at this point. Unmanned platforms as things stand look like a far more sensible move.
Must admit, Pollard is funnier than Eagle was, in a “wordy” kind of way. I love socialists and their magic money tree.
Socialist???
How about increasing the speed of ship building and order some more Typhoons ?
How about filling the glaring gap in the artillery as well by buying k9 a3 off the shelf instead of waiting years for the As90 replacement
Is this another instalment of the release of the defence industrial plan by stealth? The whole thing was due in Autumn. I might remind Mr Pollard that those of us following the Celtic calendar are almost half way through winter!
Pollard says his aim is 6 years to contract. Then from Contract Award there will be several more years of design, development, testing, manufacture. So what’s that? 10 years to fielding? Longer for something really complex like a carrier.
We’re looking ay speeding up production? That’s nice. Another ten years and we night have two whole Brigades fo 48 tanks. WOW!!
The Strategic Defence Review is clear:
‘Russia, a nuclear-armed state, had invaded and brutally occupied part of a neighbouring sovereign state. And in doing this it was supported by China, supplied with equipment from Iran and by troops from North Korea, deployed in Europe for the first time ever…..The sheer unpredictability of these and other global events, combined with the velocity of change in every area, has created alarming new threats and vulnerabilities for our country—and a dangerous complexity in the world…..If anything, the geopolitical context has worsened since we started.’
‘This Government is endorsing the vision and accepting all 62 recommendations in the SDR, which will be implemented….UK leading within NATO and taking on more responsibility for European security…updated conventional capabilities…..We will create a British Army which is 10x more lethal to deter from the land, by combining more people and armoured capability…’
‘The Army has some capability enhancements already underway, including Challenger 3…..But it must be bolder…..The Army must modernise the two divisions and the Corps HQ that it provides to NATO as one of the Alliance’s two Strategic Reserves Corps (SRC).’
That means many more tanks (within associated combined arms formations) and everything required to sustain them in the field on extended operations.
But this is the stark reality of where, in actual fact, we really are today:
‘I can absolutely assure the Committee that we can provide a trained divisional headquarters and certified and assured brigades—16 Brigade, 7th Light Mech Brigade Combat Team, and an armoured brigade—but there will be capability gaps in our ability to get there and our ability to sustain it for time.’
General Sir Patrick Sanders, Nov 2023
Long on aspiration: an Army Corps of two (perforce armoured within Central Europe) divisions. Short on actuality: a division (-) with one armoured brigade.
Given these uncertain, dangerous times, something has to, will, give.
Either the government junks net zero and fronts up to its NATO commitments, restoring a verifiably credible conventional deterrent in Central Europe or it risks the annihilation in battle of the entire British Army in short order and, potentially, the break up through force of arms of the United Kingdom within the medium term.