NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Chieftain tank

The FV 4201 Chieftain was the Main battle tank of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s. It was one of the more competitive tanks of its time, having a powerful main gun and armour. The Chieftain also introduced a supine (lying backwards) driver position, enabling a heavily sloped and reduced height hull. Military vehicles are commonly armoured to withstand the impact of shrapnel, bullets or shells, protecting the soldiers inside from enemy fire. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The US M1A1 Abrams tank is a typical modern main battle tank. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1969, inclusive. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ...

Overview

The Chieftain was a radical evolutionary development of the successful Centurion line of tanks that had emerged after the Second World War. The British had learned during the war that their tanks often lacked sufficient protection and firepower compared to those fielded by the enemy, and that this had led to high casualty levels when faced with the superior German tanks of the time. The Centurion was the primary British Main Battle Tank of the immediate post-war era, and considered by many to be one of the best British tank designs of all time. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki TÅjÅ Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

The Centurion was a capable vehicle, but was outclassed by the powerful Joseph Stalin IS-3 tank, introduced by the Soviet Union in the mid 1940s. The Conqueror tank was developed to specifically counter the IS-3 but it was far too expensive to produce in large numbers. Other western European countries were introducing designs focusing on mobility, but in British doctrine armor remained more important in order to minimize casualties. The Iosef Stalin tank, named after Joseph Stalin, was a heavy tank developed by the Soviet Union during World War II. It is sometimes transliterated Iosif Stalin, from the Russian, Иосиф Сталин. The tanks in the series are also sometimes called... The FV214 Conqueror was a British Main Battle Tank of the post-war era, sometimes classified as a heavy tank. ...

Leyland, who had been involved in Centurion, had built their own prototypes of a new tank design in 1956, and these led to a War Office specification for a new tank. The design was accepted in the early 1960s. Chieftain was designed to be as well protected as possible and to be equipped with a powerful 120 mm rifled cannon. The heavy armour came at the price of reduced mobility, chiefly due to engine power limitations, which was perhaps the Chieftain's main drawback. The engine selected took the multi-fuel route and as introduced gave less than the planned output; even as the engine was refined, the power fell short of the ideal. Leyland is a town in the borough of South Ribble, Lancashire, United Kingdom, approximately 6 miles south of Preston. ...

Design

The Chieftain design included a heavily sloped hull and turret. It had a mantleless turret, in order to take full advantage of reclining the vehicle up to ten degrees in a hull-down position. The driver lay semi-recumbent in the hull when his hatch was closed down which helped to reduce overall height. To the left side of the turret was a large infra-red searchlight in an armoured housing. The suspension was of the Horstmann bogie type, with large sideplates to protect the tracks and provide stand-off protection from hollow charge attack. Vickers Mark VI light tank, with suspension components visible. ...

The engine is a two-stroke opposed piston design intended for multi-fuel use so it could run on petrol or diesel or anything in between. In practice the engine did not deliver the expected power, but improvements were introduced to address this. However, as the engine power improved the tank itself had added extra weight. The driving was conventional tillers braking one track or the other while the gearbox was operated motorcycle style with a kick up/kick down "peg" on the left and the accelerator on the right foot. In the turret the loader was on the left and the gunner on the right of the gun with the commander behind the gunner. The two-stroke cycle of an internal combustion engine differs from the more common four-stroke cycle by having only two strokes (linear movements of the piston) instead of four, although the same four operations (intake, compression, power, exhaust) still occur. ... This article is about existing engine designs. ...

Its main 120 mm gun is innovative, as it burns away the cartridge, leaving nothing to be discarded. Other tank guns had to store the spent shell cartridge or eject it outside. It was said that the rest of the tank was built around this gun.

Service

Like its European competitors, the Chieftain found a large export market but largely in the Middle East; unlike the earlier Centurion, it was not adopted by any other NATO or Commonwealth countries. This article is 150 kilobytes or more in size. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... NATO 2002 Summit in Prague The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation[2] (NATO; French: ; also called the North Atlantic Alliance, the Atlantic Alliance, or the Western Alliance) is a military alliance established by the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949. ...

The Chieftain proved itself capable in combat and able to be upgraded with enhancements both for overall improvement and to meet local requirements. The Chieftain tanks were continuously upgraded until the early 1990s when they were replaced by the Challenger series of tanks whose design was influenced by that of Chieftain. The final Chieftain version used by the British Army until 1995, incorporated "Stillbrew" armour named after Colonel Still and John Brewer from the Military Vehicles and Engineering Establishment (MVEE), the Improved Fire Control System (IFCS) and the Thermal Observation Gunnery Sight (TOGS). The British FV4030/4 Challenger 1 was the main battle tank (MBT) of the British Army from 1983 until it was superseded by the Challenger 2. ...

The first Chieftain model was introduced in 1967, and has since been delivered to at least six countries, including Iran, Kuwait, Oman and Jordan. The largest of the foreign sales was to Iran, which took delivery of around 1,000 "Mk5(P)" before the 1979 revolution. Further planned deliveries of the more capable 4030 series were cancelled at that point. Thus, the tank's main combat experience was in the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88. 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... Protestors take to the street in support of Ayatollah Khomeini. ... Combatants Iran Iraq Commanders Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini Abolhassan Banisadr Ali Shamkhani Mostafa Chamranâ€ Saddam Hussein Ali Hassan al-Majid Strength 305,000 soldiers 500,000 Passdaran and Baseej militia 1,000 tanks 1,000 armored vehicles 3,000 artillery pieces 65 aircraft 720 helicopters[1] 190,000 soldiers 4,500...

Specifications

Armament

Mark 1 and Mark 2 models had coaxial .50 cal. ranging machine guns prior to the introduction of the laser rangefinder. A M1 Abrams firing. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... A machine gun is a fully-automatic firearm that is capable of firing bullets in rapid succession. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Equipment

Very high frequency (VHF) is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz (wavelength 10 m) to 300 MHz (wavelength 1 m). ...

Variants

-1... The British FV4030/4 Challenger 1 was the main battle tank (MBT) of the British Army from 1983 until it was superseded by the Challenger 2. ...

External links

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