Ukrainian soldiers install homemade armor on Challenger 2 tank

Ukrainian soldiers install additional steel plates on the front of the Challenger 2 tank's undercarriage, to protect this weak point from Russian anti-tank missiles.

A video that surfaced on social media last week shows the Challenger 2 main battle tank numbered 506, belonging to the 82nd Airborne Brigade of Ukraine, moving in the southern part of the country. The highlight of the Challenger 2 in the video is a steel plate attached to the front sloping undercarriage of the vehicle.

Forbes editor David Axe said the Challenger 2 is one of the best-armored tanks in the world, with Dorchester protection on the turret equivalent to 1,400mm of rolled steel. However, due to decades of British tank deployment in fortifications, the front sloping undercarriage has only light armor.

The British Army later added additional armor to protect this position, but it appears that the Challenger 2s they sent to Ukraine did not have such accessories, leaving them vulnerable to shots to the front underbody. "British officials almost expected Ukraine to use these Challenger 2s for defense," Axe wrote.

But on the battlefield, the Ukrainian 82nd Airborne Brigade, the sole operator of the 14 Challenger 2s supplied by the UK, was advancing on the Rabotino axis in a large-scale counterattack. As a result, Ukrainian soldiers had to install homemade underbody protection on their Challenger 2 tanks.

Ukrainian soldiers install homemade armor on Challenger 2 tank — Ukrainian Challenger 2 tank with homemade steel armor in video released on September 23. Video: *X/Military Land*

Homemade armor can overcome the inherent weakness of the Challenger 2 on the front, but Russian soldiers seem to have discovered another weak point on the turret roof of this vehicle line against 9M133 Kornet anti-tank missiles.

This is what the Ukrainian Challenger 2 suffered during the battle near the village of Rabotino, which the country's forces recaptured in mid-August.

The Challenger 2 apparently hit a mine while moving from Rabotino to the nearby village of Verbovoe. Russian soldiers fired a Kornet anti-tank missile that hit the Challenger 2's turret roof, causing the tank to burn down.

"The missile gunner appears to have used an air-to-air attack feature. The Kornet multi-explosive round detonated above the Challenger 2 turret roof, a thinly armored location with no additional protection," wrote editor Axe.

The strike appeared to have ignited the Challenger 2’s shells, which were stored in special storage compartments designed to prevent secondary explosions. However, the compartments appeared to have been ineffective, as the shell explosion caused the Challenger 2’s turret to detach from the hull, though it was not blown off like the Russian T-72 tank.

"This was a bad situation for the Challenger 2, which suffered two consecutive hits. The first was an anti-tank mine that damaged the tracks, immobilizing the Challenger 2, and then a hit to the turret roof," Axe wrote. "This seems to be a tactic the Russians have discovered to destroy the Challenger 2 tank."

Ukraine lost its first Challenger 2 tank — A destroyed Challenger 2 tank near the village of Rabotino, Zaporizhzhia province, in a video released on September 5. Video: *Twitter/OSINTtechnical*

The Challenger 2 main battle tank was developed by the British in the late 1980s, equipped with a 120 mm main gun. It is the only NATO tank to use a rifled gun barrel, as the British Army preferred to use high explosive flexible-head (HESH) shells instead of the APFSDS shells common with smoothbore guns.

HESH rounds have a superior range compared to APFSDS, making them highly effective against fortified structures or lightly armored vehicles such as enemy infantry fighting vehicles. However, their penetration ability is inferior to kinetic energy rounds and they are almost ineffective against the complex armor on modern main battle tanks.

This tank weighs 62.5 tons, equipped with a V-12 diesel engine with a capacity of more than 1,200 horsepower, helping it reach a maximum speed of 59 km/h on flat roads and 40 km/h when crossing terrain.

Nguyen Tien (According to Forbes )

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