M.P. Robinson

This book is intended to be the first in a short series looking at the major developments of battle tanks by the western nations in the period from the end of the Second World War to the present. During WW2 the tank came of age, and was probably the predominant land weapon of the period. However the tank was never perfected during the war, and the post-war decades have seen enormous resources expended on trying to do just that – to make the tank perfect. This of course is an impossible task, as threats evolve and mutate, and trying to design a vehicle (or indeed any weapon of war) to do a multitude of different tasks will inevitably lead to compromise. Notwithstanding this, the development of the modern ‘Chariots of Fire’ in the 1950s was an utterly fascinating process, with ten or more project and trial tank designs rejected for every design actually adopted. It was truly an era when technology was evolving rapidly, for if the specifications of the late 1940s differed little from the most powerful wartime designs; by 1960 the specifications for new battle tanks reflected every tactical implication of NATO’s nuclear strategy.

This is a brief discussion of the iconic Leopard 1 and Leopard 2 tank families, touching on some of its best-known members. Serious students of the Leopard family are encouraged to seek out the Leopard trilogy (2003 Barbarossa Books) written by Michael Shackleton, the Tankograd special series, or the concise Osprey New Vanguard titles by Michael Jerchel. Excellent written, digital and web based reference covering the Leopard’s use by the Netherlands, Denmark, Australia, Canada, Spain- and naturally Germany; have all appeared in recent years as well as a wide range of excellent model kits. Leopard 1 and Leopard 2 MBTs are of course completely different vehicles in concept- and they come from different stages of the Bundeswehr’s Cold War armaments program. They nonetheless have a number of similarities and are together the most commercially successful and widely sold European tank designs from the 1960s to the present day.

For much of the Cold War, the British Armys main battle tanks (MBT) were first the Centurion and then the Chieftain. The question of the latters replacement became urgent when in 1980 MBT80 was cancelled. While the Royal Ordnance Challenger (originally the Shir 2) was acquired as a stop gap its design and capability limitations quickly became apparent. Vickers then took over the Royal Ordnance tank building facility and against stiff foreign competition developed the Challenger 2. This superbly researched and illustrated book tells the story of the evolution and subsequent successful career of Challenger 2 which has seen distinguished service in war and peace since 1990 and has proved itself one of the worlds most formidable fighting vehicles. The authors do not shy away from technical detail and make comparisons with competitors. The result is an objective and authoritative work which will delight military equipment buffs, modellers and wargamers.