New tank, new ammunition – increasing the Challenger 3’s firepower
The Rheinmetall L55A1 smoothbore gun of the Challenger 3 will fire a new 120mm Enhanced Kinetic Energy round. (Photo: Rheinmetall)
The main war shot of the Challenger 3 will be a 120mm Enhanced Kinetic Energy (EKE) round which will be developed under a German/UK government-to-government agreement.
The in-development RBSL Challenger 3 main battle tank (MBT) has been armed with the latest version of the Rheinmetall 120mm L55A1 high-pressure chrome-lined smoothbore gun fitted with a thermal sleeve, fume extractor and a muzzle reference system. This setup will allow projectiles to be fired with a higher maximum pressure with claimed greater accuracy and less barrel wear.
The current Challenger 2 has been fitted with a Royal Ordnance 120mm L30A1 rifled gun which fires separate loading ammunition, projectile and charge, with the main war shot being an L23A1 armour-piercing fin-stabilised discarding sabot – tracer (APFSDS-T) with a depleted uranium
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