The Ministry of Defence says it has made “significant progress” in exploring export opportunities linked to the Challenger 3 tank programme, but has declined to provide further detail.
In a written answer to Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty, Defence Minister Luke Pollard said: “The Department continues to explore opportunities for the export of Challenger 3 capabilities with significant progress made to date.” However, Pollard added that the government would not disclose specifics, stating: “Providing further detail at this time would compromise commercial sensitivities.”
The response follows previous parliamentary questions about whether the UK is actively seeking international customers for Challenger 3, which is being developed as the British Army’s next-generation main battle tank upgrade.
It’s still unclear which countries, if any, are seriously looking at Challenger 3 as a future tank option. No prospective customer has been publicly identified, and there have been no announcements suggesting a formal sales campaign is under way.
That uncertainty reflects the reality that Challenger 3 is a highly specific capability, shaped around British Army requirements and the UK’s industrial approach to upgrades and support. Export interest would very likely depend on whether potential buyers see value in that model, and whether the tank fits with their own priorities on interoperability, sustainment, and future European armoured programmes.
For now, the language used by ministers suggests the UK is actively sounding out opportunities, but the picture remains very opaque.
We have had significant meeting but don’t know anything. 🤔
I thought the Challenger 3 was just an upgrade to the existing Challenger 2’s? Basically a new/upgraded turrent with a few other upgrades. Doesn’t this limit our exports to the number of existing Challenger 2 tanks we already have? It doesn’t seem like we have enough tanks for ourselves, I don’t think we can afford to sell any to other countries.
Jordan has a shedful in storage.
Haveing difficulty seeing what export potential there might be ? It is an upgrade, not new build
CH1 , Oman has some CH2
It would have to be new build hulls in the case of export. Building those would be relatively easy. The turret is the difficult part.
So why aren’t all Challenger 3’s new build? They told us new build wasn’t a viable choice! Now it is?
New build will be more expensive, and more expensive is what the goverment calls not viable. Of course, that’s for us. If someone else wants to pay, it’s completely viable.
Its just to save afew bob. Theres no reason why they couldnt knock out the hulls if someone came in and asked for 500. Im not saying the will sell a single one, but it doable. If they can build Boxer hull in the UK they can build new Chally aswell.
Remember how they “saved a few bob” by re-using the Nimrod fuselage for the MRA4?
Haveing difficulty seeing what export potential there might be ? It is an upgrade, not new build
Please sir can we, the UK, have more?
If we can’t build or upgrade any more for our own army, why are we proposing selling them overseas from limited remaining Ch2 hulls we’ll desperately need for parts at the very least in any future conflict?
I dont think they are saying that. Certainly doesnt say that in the article
Starmer mentioned the number of different fighting systems across Europe in his address to the Munich conference, suggesting that commonisation be the preferred route going forward. The current CH3 opportunities could point to a change in direction for the MOD and a possible sell-off of CH3 in preference to say, Leapard A8? A CH3 sell-off would help to pay for the transition to the German tank, which would allow the UK to build the majority of vehicles at home and tailor the fleet to the needs of the field commanders. Under current plans, it’s believed the UK could convert approximately 200 CH3 but that would be its limit due to the suitability of hull condition. A purchase of Leopard A8 would speed up greater integration with many European nations that operate various Leopard designs but would bring British and German battle groups closer to commonisation. If Boxer is brought into the equation, plus the howitzer variant, then a potential for a formidable land force is clear. Inevitably, we must aim to commonise the European component of NATO, and it’s a question of cost and above all commitment.
So to get greater commonality we downgrade to a Leopard. And probably take a loss on selling the CH3 for less than the cost of the upgrade…
2 + 2 = 37 is wrong answer
It may be that Oman is thinking about moving its challenger 2 fleet to challenge 3, also it may be possible to do a challenger 1 to challenger 3 upgrade package in which case you have the Jordanian force.. they have not yet placed a major order to replace its challenger 1 fleet, they got some ( 80) freebie original leclercs.. but the withdrawal of their 400 challenger 1s has left them massively depleted.. and they are a big land power with insecurity all around.
Jonathan
IIRC, C1 and C2 are pretty different beasts.
Where export potential might lay is in the turret, which with some bespokery, might be quite a saleable item.
Now that IFVs are coming in at 30 tonnes plus beasts is there any potential that the C3 turret could be added to a large tracked IFV ( ie tracked Boxer) if the customer wanted it?.
A C2 turret is 20 tonnes, more modern armour may make the C3 less.
Beef up the suspension and power of an OTS IFV hull and you have a “light tank)
Price wise it would have to come in less than the 25-35m euro price of the latest LeoA8.
A front engines IFV with a top class optics, APS and assault gun package with dismounts. Merkava like.