UK to send Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, Rishi Sunak confirms

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UK to send Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, Rishi Sunak confirms​

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• Russia-Ukraine war

IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGES
Image caption,
A Challenger 2 tank being used during a military parade in the UK
By Jonathan Beale, Defence Correspondent, and Jasmine Andersson
BBC News

The UK is to send Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine to bolster the country's war effort, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said.
He spoke to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky in a call on Saturday, during which he confirmed he would send the equipment and additional artillery systems, No 10 said.
Downing Street said the move shows "the UK's ambition to intensify support."
The government is to issue 14 tanks to Ukraine.
Around 30 AS90s, which are large, self-propelled guns, are also expected to be delivered.
President Zelensky has thanked the UK, saying that the decision to send the tanks "will not only strengthen us on the battlefield, but also send the right signal to other partners".
He said the UK's support was "always strong" and was "now impenetrable".
No 10 said that during the call, Mr Sunak and Mr Zelensky also discussed also recent Ukrainian victories, as well as the "need to seize on this moment with an acceleration of global military and diplomatic support".
The announcement came as a series of missile attacks were launched across Ukraine on Saturday, including in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa.
At least 14 people were killed in a strike on an apartment block in the eastern city of Dnipro.

• What military equipment is the world giving?

Mr Sunak said the Challengers, the British Army's main battle tank, would help Kyiv's forces "push Russian troops back".
Built in the late 1990s, the Challenger tank is more than 20 years old, but it will be the most modern tank at Ukraine's disposal. The tanks will provide Ukraine with better protection, and more accurate firepower.
The UK will begin training the Ukrainian Armed Forces to use the tanks and guns in the coming days.
While the donation alone is not considered a game-changer, it is hoped that the UK's move will inspire other countries to donate more modern equipment to help Ukraine.
Chair of the Defence Select Committee Tobias Ellwood said he welcomed the UK "getting serious about the hardware it supplies Ukraine", but that international assistance had been "far too slow".
He told BBC Breakfast: "That's exactly what Russia wants us to do - to remain hesitant.
"Unless we step forward and support Ukraine, Russia will not go away - and that will mean the bully has won."
He stressed that he wanted to see an arms factory in Eastern Poland which would allow Ukraine to procure its own weapons for the long term.

As it stands, Poland has plans to send 14 of its German-made Leopard tanks.
But the tanks, which are in greater supply and used by a number of European armies, need approval from Germany to be exported to Ukraine.
Ukraine also has hopes that the US will supply some of its Abrams tanks, which use the same ammunition as the Leopard.
Earlier this month, Germany and the US agreed to join France in sending armoured fighting vehicles to Ukraine - a move seen as a significant boost to its military's capability on the battlefield.
Shadow defence secretary John Healey said the government had "Labour's fullest backing" for the decision to send the Challengers.
He said: "Modern tanks are crucial to Ukraine's efforts to win its battle against Russian aggression."
Responding to the news of the Challenger tanks, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: "As we've said previously, weapons supplies are legitimate targets for Russian strikes."

IMAGE SOURCE, MAXAR TECHNOLOGIES
Image caption,
Soledar has been devastated by Russia's bombardment, as shown by this satellite image from Tuesday
Earlier on Saturday, Russia's military announced it had captured the salt-mining town of Soledar after a long battle, calling it an "important" step for its offensive.
The victory would allow Russian troops to push on to the nearby city of Bakhmut, and cut off the Ukrainian forces there, a spokesman said.
But Ukrainian officials said the fight for Soledar was still going on and accused Russia of "information noise".

UK to send Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, Rishi Sunak confirms

Rishi Sunak confirms the tanks will be provided during a call with President Zelensky.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Trango Towers]

Mistake..
When you see these knocked out it won't be good for British tank industry

 

[Beny Karachun]

Mistake..
When you see these knocked out it won't be good for British tank industry

Like the thousands of Russian tanks destroyed? what would happen to the Russian tank industry lol

 

[Beast]

Like the thousands of Russian tanks destroyed? what would happen to the Russian tank industry lol

Russian tank is cheaper so being knockout is understable. Not expensive and heavier so called better tanks getting humiliated.

 

[jhungary]

Russian tank is cheaper so being knockout is understable. Not expensive and heavier so called better tanks getting humiliated.

This is never about whether this 14 Challenger 2 made any different. This is done so the world will pile on pressure on both Germany and US to send Leo 2 and Abrams in good numbers.

It wouldn't be enough for the Ukrainian to have the entire stock the British Army is running. They need around 500 modern tanks to turn the ties, to roll over the Russian. And the only country that can make up that number is US and Germany, there are 2000 Leo 2 tanks in Europe and none of them can transfer to Ukraine unless German OK it. And there are more than 1500 Abrams in storage.

500 Western tanks is more than enough to take down the ~1500 ish Russian tanks they are using in Ukraine.

 

[Trango Towers]

Like the thousands of Russian tanks destroyed? what would happen to the Russian tank industry lol

Would u buy Russian tank?
Why r u not sending the merkava to your boy Zelenski in Ukraine. He has just purchased $8million dollar property for his parents

 

[Dalit]

Would u buy Russian tank?
Why r u not sending the merkava to your boy Zelenski in Ukraine. He has just purchased $8million dollar property for his parents

Zelensky cries like a baby for more military hardware. He gets very litte.

 

[Ali_Baba]

Mistake..
When you see these knocked out it won't be good for British tank industry

The UK does not have a Tank industry anymore - so no loss there !!!!!

These tanks are 20+ years old - and we have seen Abrahams, Leopards also knocked out - did not reflect badly onthem - they continue to get sales ( though Germany's tank industry will be in serious trouble due to its political dithering by Olaf S ..).

They are instruments of war and will be blown up in Ukraine - i have no doubt on that. They are however, still, much much better than anything Russia can field in Ukraine.

The Challenger were undefeated when they faced the Iraqi army in open warfare - as the crews were trained and skilled. Ukraine will have less time to train the tank crews fully so they wont be able to get the full capability out of them for sure - but still much better than anything that the Russians can field and operate - so it still a massive capability upgrade for Ukraine. The lack of experience and familitarity of the crews to the tank will have operational issues and unnecessary losses for sure. That is understood and accepted.

Ukraine has operated all of the tanks that Russia fields, and when western tanks start heading to Ukraine - they will get a massive capability upgrade. Russians will still need to rely on the original junk - so not good times for the Russian Army.

 

[TigerOfMysore]

Something does not smell right. There is a strong likelihood that within the next 30-60 days Russian armor will come into play in significant numbers. Just transferring tanks does not mean they get integrated. Crews need to be trained and appropriate tank maintenance and logistic lines need to be developed. That take times. Even if they rush things I would think 90 days at the minimum. How does Europe think these tanks will make any difference? Russia will seek out these very tanks early and take them out. There seems to be a lack of coordination about the European allies, and hence this does not bode well for the Ukrainians.

 

[Splurgenxs]

They are officially sending in foreign troops(non ukranian) if not already.

 

[Beny Karachun]

Russian tank is cheaper so being knockout is understable. Not expensive and heavier so called better tanks getting humiliated.

Lol, the T-90M, T-90A, T-80BVM and T-72B3 are rather expensive and are "better than western tanks" according to Russia yet they're blown up by the hundreds.

No one wants cheap tanks, expensive tanks that protect the crew is what's needed. If the crew survives you have battle hardened troops that can hop inside another tank. If they had a cheap tank they wouldn't have survived.

Would u buy Russian tank?
Why r u not sending the merkava to your boy Zelenski in Ukraine. He has just purchased $8million dollar property for his parents

No, Russian tanks are kinda garbage.

If Ukraine had Merkava's they would be able to make offensives easily thanks to the Trophy.

 

[One_Nation]

They should send a third one in case 2 fall short of conquering Russia.

 

[Ali_Baba]

Something does not smell right. There is a strong likelihood that within the next 30-60 days Russian armor will come into play in significant numbers. Just transferring tanks does not mean they get integrated. Crews need to be trained and appropriate tank maintenance and logistic lines need to be developed. That take times. Even if they rush things I would think 90 days at the minimum. How does Europe think these tanks will make any difference? Russia will seek out these very tanks early and take them out. There seems to be a lack of coordination about the European allies, and hence this does not bode well for the Ukrainians.

Russia does not really have any significant "armour" to come into play - most of the best stuff Russia had got destroyed in the first 6 months of the war - where are these imaginary tanks and armour coming from ?

 

[Foinikas]

The only ones fanatically supporting the Challenger 2 are the British. Everyone else thinks it's a mediocre tank

Imagine,they have a small number of them already and they wanna give some to the Ukrainians. THAT good.

 

[Ali_Baba]

@waz

This thead is best merged with this one : https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/russ...opments-part-2.746450/page-1257#post-14172805