To some degree they wanted to, from the Chieftain replacement trials the general first choice ended up being Leclerc then Leopard 2, we only went for CR2 due to cost, lead time, & grand strategic concerns.
Also don’t forget about MBT-80, that would have been autoloaded, if the programme ever produced anything.
The MBT 80 would have been worse than the CR1 in the end due to not enough money being put in things that need a lot of it but the CR1 and MBT 80 are not bad and probably would have complemented each other well if they had both entered service together
Just found this on youtube. Thought might be worth sharing:
1 Like
Autoloaders were not something the UK was really interested in. With a human loader always being favoured.
Britain are slow to adpot new technolgies and the pros for a human loader outweighed the cons.
I don’t think its fair to say Britain are slow to adopt new technologies, I think its more accurate to say that Britain generally picks a design philosophy and likes to stick with technologies within that philosophy
3 Likes
Both are true. Britain in WW2 didn’t want to go with the better technologies of the time but still wanted to produce the same quantity as much higher quality tanks, the Navy and Air Force did take a lot of the engineers but from 1941/2 they were starting to get better designs but they didn’t improve on other designs they way they could have
1 Like
The Leclerc was not seen as a viable contender because the KE protection of the turret armour was deemed to be completely inadequate:
2 Likes
1 Like
I think we can safely blame the requirements for a multi fuel engine for the ruinously slow speed of the chieftain. Its kind off the only time we wish we didnt stick to specs as we were stuck with leyland trying to make a multi fule engine which ended up increasing the size and weight of the chieftain along side reducing the hp we wanted. Imagine a chieftain that was 40 tons like it was meant to with a similar or more hp engine. Would have been a pretty sexy thing to see.
I just want gaijin to give us the gas turbine prototype but i know thatll never happen as it was never given a turret i dont think.
Although, i do admit. A two stoke super charged engine does sound pretty cool untill you slap on the leyland badge and see the 75% fail statistics.
They sound scottish
but nice video man
Might be. It was something that surprised me when I watched it but it is cool to watch
1 Like
Oh they are. the lads firing htat chieftain definitely are scots xD
shows how potent the dorchester / chobham is doessnt it