The Chieftain was a radical evolutionary development of the successful Centurion line of tanks that had emerged at the end of the Second World War. The British had learned during the war that their tanks often lacked sufficient protection and firepower compared to those fielded by the enemy, and that this had led to high casualty levels when faced with the superior German tanks in World War II. Chieftain was designed to be as well protected as possible and to be equipped with a powerful 120 mm rifled gun. The heavy armor came at the price of reduced mobility, chiefly due to engine power limitations, which was perhaps the Chieftain's main drawback.
The concept of the Main Battle Tank emerged from the Centurion Universal tank that was developed at the end of World War II. Development of its successor began as early as 1951. The Chieftain incorporated significant innovations including a reclining driver position and two-piece ammunition for greater survivability. The tank entered service in 1967 and was the heaviest armed and armoured MBT within the NATO alliance. The Chieftain saw combat during the Iran-Iraq War, with the Kuwaitis during the 1990 Iraqi invasion and with the British Army during the Gulf War of 1990–91 as special-purpose variants. This book explores the design, development and operation of one of the most influential vehicles used in modern warfare.
The British Chieftain - designed in the late 1950s as the replacement for the Centurion - was perhaps the best main battle tank in service with Nato during the 1960s and 1970s. Its 120mm rifled main gun and advanced armour made it one of the most formidable tanks of its time, and Robert Jackson's book is an authoritative introduction to it. Although it was intended to fight Soviet armour on the plains of northern Germany, it was in the heat and sand of the Middle East that the Chieftain fought its major battles during the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s, and it proved to be very effective during the Gulf War of 1991. Variants of the Chieftain were exported to Iran, Oman, India, Kenya and Nigeria, and its chassis was adapted to fulfil a variety of tasks, including armoured recovery and bridge-laying As well as tracing the history of the Chieftain, Robert Jackson's work provides an excellent source of reference for the modeller, providing details of available kits and photographs of award-winning models, together with artworks showing the colour schemes applied to these tanks. Each section of the book is supported by a wealth of archive photographs.
The pioneering tank crew of the First World War would be astonished by the advances made in the design of armoured fighting vehicles over the last 100 years which have resulted in the Challenger 2, the current main battle tank in service with the British army. In terms of its speed, manoeuvrability and firepower, and the protection it provides for its crew, the Challenger 2 is one of the most advanced and sophisticated tanks ever built, and it is a popular subject with tank modellers and enthusiasts. That is why this volume in the TankCraft series on the Challenger, featuring hundreds of photographs and specially commissioned colour profiles, is absorbing reading and such a valuable work of reference.Archive photos of the Challenger 2 in service and extensively researched colour profile illustrations depict the tank throughout its operational life. A large part of the book showcases available model kits and aftermarket products, complemented by a gallery of beautifully constructed and painted models in various scales. Technical details as well as modifications introduced during production and in the field are also examined and provide everything the modeller needs to recreate an accurate representation of the Challenger 2.
This book provides the reader with the full and unvarnished story of the origins, development, decades of service and combat history of the Chieftain Main Battle Tank. The text is interspersed with numerous photographs, many published for the first time, alongside color profiles and scale plans, including those of rare and unusual variants. It also relates the experiences of the crews who lived and worked on the Chieftain, often described in the irreverent style typical of British Army humor.
The Gulf War bore witness to a number of deadly encounters between these two great adversaries. Heavily armoured, highly mobile and capable of killing at over 2500m the M1 Abrams is, to this day, a veritable fighting machine. Superior to both Iraq's Soviet era T-55 and T-62 tanks, nearly all sources claim that no Abrams tank has ever been destroyed by enemy fire. Despite entering service in 1980, the M1 Abrams remained untested in combat until the Gulf War in 1991, where it was to be confronted by its archenemy the Iraqi-assembled Soviet-designed T-72. Entering production in 1971, the T-72 arguably outstripped its contemporaries in a balance of mobility, protection and firepower. By the time of Operation Desert Storm, however, the tables had turned and the tank suffered due to low quality ammunition and poorly trained crews. In this fascinating study, Steven Zaloga pits these two great fighting machines against one another, plotting the development of the Cold War until both tanks met in combat in the deserts of Iraq and Kuwait.
This book presents an authoritative history of post-war British defence research as related to the establishments that, at the time of writing and first publication, formed part of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA). DERA included such well-known centres as the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough, the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment at Malvern, and the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment at Porton Down. Collectively these have carried out a very high proportion of all the scientific research conducted in Britain since the Second World War. Study of these vast, but traditionally secretive, institutions is vital to understanding science in post-war Britain. In addition to research towards new weapons, the establishments have maintained high levels of policy-relevant expertise, providing advice to government and even carried out some manufacturing. Until now their contribution has been little understood. This is the first systematic treatment of their history, putting the applied science of the military sector in its technological, military and social context. Developments and areas of work have been selected for inclusion primarily on the basis
This revised and updated edition of the classic Cold War novel Team Yankee reminds us once again might have occurred had the United States and its Allies taken on the Russians in Europe, had cooler geopolitical heads not prevailed. For 45 years after World War II, East and West stood on the brink of war. When Nazi Germany was destroyed, it was evident that Russian tank armies had become supreme in Europe, but only in counterpart to US air power. In 1945 US and UK bombers sent a signal to the advancing Russians at Dresden to beware of what the Allies could do. Likewise when the Russians overran Berlin they sent a signal to the Allies what their land armies could accomplish. Thankfully the tense standoff continued on either side of the Iron Curtain for nearly half a century. During those years, however, the Allies beefed up their ground capability, while the Soviets increased their air capability, even as the new jet and missile age began (thanks much to captured German scientists on both sides). The focal point of conflict remained central Germany—specifically the flat plains of the Fulda Gap—through which the Russians could pour all the way to the Channel if the Allies proved unprepared (or unable) to stop them. Team Yankee posits a conflict that never happened, but which very well might have, and for which both sides prepared for decades. This former New York Times bestseller by Harold Coyle, now revised and expanded, presents a glimpse of what it would have been like for the Allied soldiers who would have had to meet a relentless onslaught of Soviet and Warsaw Pact divisions. It takes the view of a US tank commander, who is vastly outnumbered during the initial onslaught, as the Russians pull out all the cards learned in their successful war against Germany. Meantime Western Europe has to speculate behind its thin screen of armor whether the New World can once again assemble its main forces—or willpower—to rescue the bastions of democracy in time.
Chieftains is a frighteningly authentic 'best-selling' novel of the invasion of Europe by the Russian and Warsaw Pact armed forces seen through the eyes of the fighting men on the ground.In particular it tells the story of the crew of Bravo Two, a Chieftain main battle tank of the British 4th Armoured Division, and also that of the crew of 'Utah', an American Abrams of the 5th United States Force, as both units face the onslaught of the Soviet armour onto the killing zones of the German Plain. 'Chieftains' has been rated the best-ever novel of tank warfare. General Sir John Hackett who reviewed it, stated that it was 'a dramatic and authentic account'. Impeccably researched at military bases in the UK and Europe, and with the assistance of the British Ministry of Defense, Allied forces armoured personnel and ex-servicemen with battle experiences in various theatres of war, 'Chieftains' was written during the darkest and most tense period of the 'Cold War' between East and West. The book brutally shows what could have happened as a Third World War began.
