FV4030/4 Challenger 1 (Pre-Series) - Back to the Very Beginning

Sebbo_the_Plebbo · February 27, 2026, 8:06pm

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Introduction

The FV4030/4 Challenger 1 finds its origins of the chaos of British tank building in the late 1970s and early 1980s. At this point in time, the venerable Centurions were being retired from frontline service, and the not-so-venerable Chieftains had stepped up as the next British main battle tank. It was clear from the outset that the Chieftain was a troubled platform, investing heavily in huge thicknesses of cast armour at a time where such protection was quickly becoming irrelevant. And so began the journey to build the next British MBT.

Following a brief foray into designing a tank with the Germans, the FMBT, which quickly fell apart, an independent British project was decided upon. This was to be the MBT-80 - a clean slate design utilising the world-leading Chobham composite armour for top-level protection across the frontal arc of the vehicle. Design work began in the 1970s, and, despite some inevitable problems and delays, it was looking promising that production would be able to begin in the 1980s.

This timeline presented a small problem - Britain had ordered essentially all of the Chieftains it needed, meaning there were little-to-no domestic orders to keep the tank factories in business and operational. Fortunately, Iran, one of the only export successes of the Chieftain, had ordered 1200 more Chieftains, the first batch being the FV4030/2 (Shir 1), essentially a re-engined Chieftain Mk.5, and the second, larger batch being the FV4030/3 (Shir 2), a ground-up redesign of the Chieftain incorporating Chobham armour. This order was exactly what was needed to keep the tank factories open while the MBT-80 design reached maturity.

However, it was not to be. The western-alligned Shah of Iran was overthrown in the 1979 Iranian Revolution, and the new government cancelled essentially all pre-existing military contracts. There was suddenly a 5-10 year gap in manufacturing demand from British factories. If they were to shut, it was highly unlikely that the capabilities and expertise could be retained long enough to produce the MBT-80 when it was ready. As such, the decision was made to take the work already undertaken for FV4030/3, and adopt it for British requirements. Such was born FV4030/4, better known as Challenger 1.

The first Challengers to enter frontline service with the British Army were the Challenger 1 Mk.1s, however, preceding the Mk.1s were the pre-series or prototype Challenger 1s. Seven were built, plated 06SP36 - 06SP42, and they represented an interim design between the Shir 2 and the production standard Challenger 1s. Shown for the first time in public at BAEE 1982, pre-series vehicles are similar in many ways to the production vehicles, including the crew layout, armour array, and automotives. However, a large difference is the complete lack of the cutaway for the TOGS sight on the corner of the turret.

Challenger 1 Pre-Series turret (top), compared to a production Challenger 1 Mk.1 turret (lower). Note the complete lack of Thermal Observation and Gunnery System (TOGS) cutout on the right (viewed left) side of the turret.

The Challenger 1 pre-series vehicles were rigourously used for trials and training, both by the manufacturer and by the Royal Armoured Corps. They represent an important stepping-stone in the process of transforming an urgent adoption of a vehicle built for foreign requirements into a domestic frontline battle tank.

In-game, the performance would be broadly similar to the Shir 2, and it would be a step below the Challenger 1 Mk.2 in the tech tree, owing to the lack of thermal imagery, so the Challenger 1 (Pre-Series) would be a strong option to fill a capability gap between the latest Chieftains (the Mk.10 and 900) and the earliest Challengers.

Specifications

Spoiler

FV4030 4 Challenger 1 Pre-Series Specifications