I found this phrase on wikipedia but still can’t find it anywhere else but I’m still looking
More updates in progress
On 15 December 2017, BAE Systems was awarded a contract to maintain the Challenger 2 thermal imaging system as part of a £15.4 million interim solution, separate from the LEP.[126] In October 2019, it was announced that Thales would supply their Catherine Megapixel (MP) thermal imaging camera.
In August 2023, photographs emerged of a Challenger 2 in Ukrainian service with lamella armor placed on top, similar to those found on Russian vehicles used in the conflict, primarily to protect against UAV attacks. The tank was also equipped with lamellar armor covering the sides of the body and the lower frontal plate of the hull.
TISP is installed on a decent bunch of Cr2s now, it started in 2019 with instalation on 2 tanks. The thing it changes is it replaces SPRITE in TOGS II with Catherine MP. So it is only to the sight above the gun, not commander one.
This was a replacement of the main thermal sight (TOGS II) with a 3rd generation sight from Scimitars that were being retired. The commander sight was not updated.
AFAIK the 580-30 never went into production. It was used on the Osorio at one point (osorio also used a Philips thermal sight at times - the one that is on the Vickers Mk.7). The CR2E was upgraded with a Dual Channel version of the 580 (the -30 is thermal only).
The Commander has a display from the gunner thermals. The commander also has turret controls and can use them to use the main thermal sight to locate targets if his panoramic sight is not sufficient. One of the main upgrades on the CR3 and Black Night was the inclusion of a commander’s dual channel sight. PASEO on the BN, and Orion on the CR3.
I’m just sad I’ve come to the conclusion I’m just not good enough to make the challengers work at top tier. The massive shortcoming it has in every department just make it so frustrating to play. It’s a shame because it’s the best looking tank In the game - back to the TKX for me.
You don’t even have them on your account. The BVM or the Leopard.
If it was your friend who has them - why not post his username so we can compare his stats between them? Without actually looking at any numbers, you’re merely being anecdotal.
I’m at least talking about objectively testable things within the garage…
Regardless - to stay on topic:
The Challenger 2 is easily one of the worst top tier MBTs currently, that’s true. I have a friend who plays them and I had no idea that the fast reload time of 6.5 seconds base was only for the first three shells. The actual Challenger 2 reload is slower than most other top tier MBTs.
I think they could buff the Challenger 2 by making its base reload the same as the Abrams (5 seconds aced), but making the first-stage’s three shells super fast - like 3-4 seconds, could be a great buff.
I really want that kind of dynamic reload. With the first few rounds being a lot faster and/or reload rate based upon movement (gives an advantage to auto-loaders that have consistent fire rate regardless of motion which is faster than a manual loader on the move but slower than one stationary)
But as for the Chally 2. they need to fix the ready rack size as well. Should be just as large as the Chally 1 I believe and yeah, reload rate buff would be good. A little BS that the Abrams got it but not the Chally 2. Or at the very least, increase the Chally 3 reload rate to match the Chally 2, making It a far more consistant upgrade over the 2E/BN which are tentatively just better tanks
Which protection analysis reckons should have been an easy pen, anyone know how much the APS reduces pen by? Replay didn’t show them firing but I know they’re not perfect
And in general it feels like I’m tanking more hits than I used to, anecdotal ofc but still
Edit: Checked server replay and both the M1A2’s hitcam and the round itself hit in different places, both of which were different to where my client hit was as well.
Dart model:
Spoiler
It basically hit between the mantlet and turret cheek, guessing if that’s the true hit location then the non-pen was probably volumetric being wonky
Hit the top right corner of the optic plate thingy, which is also where the game put the impact mark, and protection analysis says it should be an easy pen (could be up to 400mm effective protection on certain pixels)
I personally think we really need some ingame testing of the mantlet instead of just assuming the protection analysis is true.
There’s instances where protection always is will get armour values wrong by like a factor of 3 or 4.
I played the Chally 2 yesterday, honestly it felt a lot tankier than before. I was frequently being shot in the side and surviving with a crew member or two lost, last time I played that was a death sentence.
I honestly don’t think I got shot in the mantlet even once which is surprising so I can’t attest to if the mantlet is better or not.
However, I can say I had my horizontal drive disabled SO MUCH, every other shot even if it was just some random place in the tank took out my turret drive. However all of the internal components do seem to help with spalling, i’ll take the trade.
I do think the Chally 2 is still being held back and i’m thankful to everyone doing bug reports, but it seems better than it was and i’m grateful for that.
I’m happy to do some mantlet testing with someone tomorrow evening in a custom battle if nobody else has done it by then
