The government has said it continues to explore export opportunities for Challenger 3, following questions over how the emerging European MARTE main battle tank programme could shape future defence exports.
In a written parliamentary question, Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty asked what assessment had been made of the potential impact of the MARTE project on future export prospects for the British Army’s Challenger 3 tank.
Responding on behalf of the Ministry of Defence, Defence Minister Luke Pollard said Challenger 3 remained “the centrepiece of the British Army’s armoured modernisation programme” and would deliver “a step change in lethality, survivability and digital integration”. He added: “The Department continues to explore export opportunities for Challenger 3 and its capabilities under the Land Industrial Strategy.”
MARTE, short for Main ARmoured Tank of Europe, is a European Defence Fund backed initiative aimed at designing a next-generation main battle tank system for participating European states. The project is coordinated by MARTE ARGE GbR, a joint venture between KNDS Deutschland and Rheinmetall Landsysteme.
Launched in July 2025, MARTE brings together a consortium of 51 entities from 11 EU member states, alongside Norway, and has been awarded approximately €20 million in European Defence Fund support. Participating defence ministries include those of Germany, Belgium, Spain, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania and Sweden.
The programme is intended to conduct design and study work for a future European MBT system, incorporating new technologies and lessons drawn from contemporary conflicts, with an emphasis on long-term interoperability and strategic autonomy. While Challenger 3 is being developed as a modernised upgrade of the UK’s existing armoured fleet, MARTE represents a parallel effort to define what a future European tank could look like beyond current platforms.
As the Challenger 3 is based on existing hulls from the Challenger 2 fleet, most of which will be required for the C3 program, how is he proposing where the required extra hulls for exports will come from?
Yeah, I was thinking the exact same thing, I know we originally exported chally 2 to oman, MAYBE he means the chance to upgrade those, but yes, seems like a very very dumb question
Yes, it’s a questions asked by and answered by idiots. It shows how low bar the MP’s and ministers are.
Beat me to it.
Simply spin, giving an indication of an opportunity that simply does not exist.
The jigs for the hulls still exist,Rhienmettal have said they can build more if required.
If that is the case and now we have the smoothbore gun for commonality then why not pitch it as an alternative if the Germans start throwing their weight around with the other consortia? Surely it was the gun that was holding back exports. As it is it will be a hard sell to the French and Polish.
Let’s not kid ourselves, Chally 3 is a warmed over 35 year old tank design.
Its a developmental dead end in reality and absolutely nobody would be interested in its reanimated corpse.
The reality is we are out of the tank business because we have reduced our MBT capability to a niche 148 tanks.
No real domestic requirement, means no tank design and manufacturing capability.
Blame UK governments over the last 30 years.
The ability to build new hulls is not the greatest obstacle to surmount.
It’s the lack of willingness by the MOD/treasury to invest in a bigger tank fleet.
Ahh “Purple Born” lol, It’s Greek
Anyway, hello and welcome brand new person😁
CR3 exports? Hello, how about some more for the British Army too? Some for reserves? Put the country first a bit. Any possibility of buying back the Omani CR2s for upgrading to CR3? Maybe re-export some of those? Plus more for Ukraine?
Appears to be a German sponsored effort, France, Poland, UK not participating.
They don’t really interact at all and it’s a stupid question. To be honest as PPS to the shadow minister of defence Ben Obese-Jecty seems to spend a lot of his time asking really odd questions about challenger 3.
Challenger3 is a cheap as chips late 2020s upgrade to make a 3rd generation MBT a 4th generation MBT the European programme is to look at a 5th generation tank for the late 2030s and early 40s…
MARTE Is a possible replacement for challenger 3 not a competitor.. and that is even if challenger 3 was an export program.. it’s not it’s a program to give the British Army a forth generation MBT at about 5.5 million a tank.. compared to a new forth generation tank that comes in at 20 million a pop.. it’s a buy 1 get 3 for free offer… not an export opportunity.
Asking questions is how you learn and occasionally you ask a really good one and everyone learns. So although I know Mr Obese-Jecty asks some odd questions, Challenger questions being merely the tip of a strange-looking iceberg, I don’t have a problem with it. How much it would cost the build a Challenger 3 from scratch? Until Jacko’s comment above about Rheinmetall, I assumed that was unreasonable. Bringer of Facts calls it pure fantasy, which was where my head was at. Now I’m just wondering. We all know fewer than 150 tanks doesn’t seem like enough, and if we need to gear up for war, it would be better to have a uniform tank fleet. A new Leopard tank cost over £25m (Leopard 2A8 is expected to come in at €29 million), and MARTE will be far more expensive than the £20m you mention, so maybe the question is worth asking.
Jon a reasonable question is can the challenge 3 compete in an export market with present 4th generation offers… if he had said that it’s an exploration.. as it was its a nonsense question.. like asking will tempest affect the export opportunities of typhoon.. or can tempest compete with a potential 7th generation Xwing fighter with lasers and shields.. again the 20 million pounds is the figure for a 4th generation tank ( ball park) there is simply no point contemplating the cost of a 5th generation MBT that is not yet even a concept…
Mass wise the UK has plenty of old challenger 2 hulls if it wanted to up the fleet to 250+ and if we are in a situation we needed more than 250 hulls then we would in reality be buying any old 3rd generation tanks we could scrap up and put in the field ( the US has 5000 of them sitting around rotting I’m sure they would flog some ).
A new challenger 3 will be no cheaper than any other all up brand new 4 generation tank ( infact probably more so as it will be smaller production run)…
We leverage the hulls we have to make a cost effective upgrade of our MBT fleet and if we were wise we would ground up joint a 5 generation programme to replace chally 3 in the 2040s.
Surely there is the need for consolidation at European level because of parallel programmes and need for efficiencies and economies of scale (and not only on MBRs). On future (5th?) gen in addition to MARTE (German led with multiple countries involved) there is the French-German MGCS and the FMBTech (technology only, French-led with multiple countries involved). Then there are multiple “bridge” (3rd/4th?) upgrade projects like the Challenger 3, the German Leopard 2A8, the French Leclerc XLR. The more advanced (4th?) Rheinmetall KF51 being developed into Italian and Hungarian versions. And more, including imports from the US and South Korea.
Yes it’s the reason it’s a stupid question because they will exist in different timeframes.. we should max out our challenger 3 conversions and also join a 5th generation program.
Geez, do these MPs have a clue?
Exactly what would we be exporting?
The MOD seems to have little interest in maintaining the small tank force we have now.
Building new hulls for CH3 ? … pure fantasy
No, very few do.
They only care about defence related jobs in their constituencies, not the overall size, capability, and effectiveness of the armed forces.
Apart from the far left within Labour who would just close the lot of course.
To be fair, at least Obese Jecty was a soldier himself and does ask a lot of questions.
Well he is the PPS shadow for defence so it’s his job.. but I wish it was not such a silly question.
I was going to ask my Labour MP to ask a few questions in parliament, what the possibilities are regarding manufacturing of and exporting Vulcan B2 bombers?
Also, should there be a vast international demand, what possibilities are there for re-establishing British Leyland and mass production of the Austin Allegro?
Two equally pointless questions for the parliament to debate.
The UK is an island. We do not need Tanks anymore. Concentrate on Naval and Air Assets and return the Army to an Island Defence Force maybe at a strength of 30,000.
Much better for our safety.
Controversial but as we can only afford 2 of our 3 Services, it is the Army we can afford to cut.
Watch Generals splutter on their cornflakes…..
We need the army for the same purpose we always have.. to deliver support to our allies of choice and if possible tip the balance. So we need 1 heavy division at least.. and for that you want 3 tank regiments.
Defence starts with the home base. We have wasted so much treasure abroad it is an embarrassment. Also note it was 1066 since this island was last invaded and in 1940 it was Air Power that saved us. I rest my case.
Unless of course we want to spend 5 per cent of GDP on defence which we never will.
To be fair Jonathan, the Army today is only truly capable in its neche roles of 1st and 2nd tier SF and deployment at Brigade level and smaller.
Deployment of a capable war fighting division is quite frankly laughable.
We lack the necessary equipment across a whole spectrum of capabilities and the war in Ukraine shows us very starkey, that we are in ‘no way’ equipped to fight a modern, high intensity war.
The current government sits on its hands ( much like the last), so nothing will change until we have a change of govenment that is prepared to actually fund the armed forces to the required levels and wholesale re-equip and restructure the army for the 21st century realities of warfare.
I wouldn’t hold my breath!
I think it’s complacent to assume that this island will never be invaded again.
Plus, we have a commitment to NATO, so it’s not just about looking after our own interests
KMW have been given an order for 123 new build Leopard 2 A8tanks for the German Army. Other countries have also placed orders. These are the first new build versions since 1992. Until now everything has been an upgrade of pre 1992 built hulls.
If KWM can retain the capability to restart production after 30+ years why couldn’t BAE?
The MBT has reached design maturity. There is no need for a brand new design. Upgrades- gun, power pack, sensors APS- are cheaper.
The battlefield and threats are changing.. a 1-3 generation MBT was designed to be protected from direct fire from the front.. a new 5th generation MBT may need a very different balance of protection and even offensive capabilities..
If the UK and Europe are going to move forward without the American umbrella then we need to start looking at European joint ventures, the UK is good at designing Frigates and Destroyers as well as aircraft but not so good at building them at speed and the Germans are good at designing AFV’s and the Dutch and Norwegian’s are good at building smaller ships like OPVs so we need to come to a Europe wide system that works for us all at a price we can all afford and at the same time keeping the local workforce employed and paying taxes.
Here’s the radical bit. Faze out locally designed equipment so that the whole of Europe and the UK have a common logistical support for its equipment from rifles to ballistic missiles, ships to AFV’s, Fast jets to Helicopters. We all have the same equipment, this way we could keep the defence infrastructure busy for the next 100 years. The down side to this would be that the current batch of defence contractors would lose their “closed markets” but the tax payer would be the ultimate winner as this would drive down the price of equipment and logistical support.
I am going down to my newly build bomb shelter in the garden as I know this will generate quit a bit of incoming.