The British Army is boosting its presence in Eastern Europe and has sent Challenger 2 main battle tanks to Poland amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
According to the Polish military, 14 Challenger 2 tanks assigned to ‘A’ Squadron (Prince Philip’s Squadron) of the Queen’s Royal Hussars arrived in Poland on July 8.
British tanks will be integrated into the Polish 21st Podhale Rifles Brigade, 18th Mechanized Division for six months as part of Britain’s growing military presence in eastern Europe since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Challenger 2 is heavily armoured and highly mobile, designed for use in the direct fire zone. Its primary role is to destroy or neutralise armour. However, it also has the ability to engage both hard and soft targets and can operate across a spectrum of high intensity conflict, counter insurgency and peace keeping roles.
The vehicle is equipped with an L30 120mm rifled tank gun, firing both long rod penetrator and High Explosive Squash Head (HESH) ammunition natures. Secondary armaments are provided with a 7.62mm co-axial chain gun and a 7.62mm pintle mounted General Purpose Machine Gun.
