Modern combat vehicles 1 - Chieftain

·ModerD CODlbat Vehicles:1 .

. George Forty .

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First published 1979 ISBN 0 71100943 9 All rights reserved. No pari of this book may be

reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any

mea ns, electronic or mechanical, including photo­

copying, recording or by any informatio n storage

and relrieval sys tem. without permission from the

Publisher in writing. Design by Anthony Wirkus LSIAD © George Forty 1979 Published by Ian Allan Ltd, Shepperton, Surrey: and printed in the United Kingdom by

Ian All an Printing Ltd

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Contents

Introduction Acknowledgements 1. Birth of a Tank 2. On Trial 3. Into Service 4. Basic Description 5. Firepower 6. Protection 7. Mobility 8. Communications 9. Latest Model 10. The Crew 11. People and Parades 12. Variants 13. Training Aids Postscript: MBT 80

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Title page: Chieftains of A Squadron 4RTR in front of Berlin's Olympic Stadium during their annual 'Arras Day' parade, 1974. / Crolv/1 copyright Left : Mud, glorious mud! Chieftains of 17/21 Lancers plough their way across the mud of Hohne Ranges. / Crown copy right

Chieftains of 4/7 Royal Dragoon Guards taking part in exercises at the British Army Training Unit, Suffield, Alberta. / Crown copyrighl

Introduction

The Chieftain has now been in service with the British Army for over a decade and will certainly stay with us for at least another 10 years. So, at somewhere around the half-way mark in its service life span, this is not a bad point at which to take stock of our current main battle tank, although it will undoubtedly have a much longer useful life elsewhere in the world just as its predecesso r, the Centurion, has done. By the time that my own regiment, the 4th Royal Tank Regiment, came to be equipped with Chieftain, I was a member of Regimental Headquarters and thus more intimately ;:oncerned with the internal workings of the FV432 Command Vehicles than with the tanks. My fighting d ays had been spent in Centurion, and, having commanded a troop in action in Korea during the early 1950s, my affections still lay with the Cent and lo t with this rather awe-inspiring, streamlined monster "ith its enormous gun. The first time I was shown over 2 Chieftain I remember thinking how complicated the ; un control equipment in the turret appeared, after the ~e l at ively simple gear in the Centurion. But opinions ;:h ange and I had similar thoughts the fir st time I was 'm roduced to the new fire control system, IFCS. No '::oubt future gunners and commanders will find it :);:rfe ctly easy to operate and will wonder why we ever Ju t up with anything less efficient. Chieftain has had its share of problems, particularly ':'1 the automotive side, and I have deliberately tried ~. o t to gloss over these defects, some of which are only -:o w being cured. However, let me say at the very '~"g i nning of this book that I consider Chieftain to be a -. =r: fine tank . Its gun and gun control equipment are , ~ perior to anything in service anywhere else in the -'w id. and the advent of IFCS will enhance this ';periority. As mobile firepower is the primary reason '-2 ~ hav ing a tank in the first place, Chieftain gets full ~_ c.r k s from me in that respect straight away. _.l,.S I have never been a very technically minded : -;:-:er. it was with some trepidation that I approached : - :: subject of describing a modern armoured fighting ~~.i;:I e . Fortunately, like most of those who have been : -: ';i! eged to serve in Her Majesty's Forces, I have - }je a lot of good friends and consequently have been

able to draw upon their expertise to get me out of difficulties. The opening chapter in the book is written by one of our most knowledgeable tank designers, Leslie Monger, MBE, who has now retired from the Military Vehicles and Engineering Establishment (MVEE) after 35 years of service devoted to AFV design and development. He played a major part in designing Chieftain, so it was the greatest good fortune that I was able to persuade him to assist me. He has produced a fascinating account of how Chieftain's configuration was decided and its main components selected a nd I am eternally grateful to him for his help. I have also had magnificent assistance from the many firms in this country which make components for Chieftain , the list of acknowledgements is a long one and does, I hope, reOect the great good will of all these splendid firms. Following Les Monger's opening narrative, I have tried to trace the difficult trials period, highlighting it with eye-witness accounts of those who actually did the work. This is followed by a chapter about early 'in-service' days of Chieftain with the Eleventh Hussars, the first regiment to be completely equipped with the new tank. The ' Cherry Pickers' were a very fine regiment and their high reputation is continued by their successors, the Royal Hussars. This chapter is followed by a detailed descri ption of the AFV and of its primary characteristics. Next follows some down-to-earth accounts of soldiering in a Chieftain tank written mainly by members of myoid regiment. I hope that they will bring suitably nostalgic whiffs of cordite and diesel oil, to those who haven 't been in side a tank for a while, and who, like me, can never forget the deep bond of affection that binds a 'tankie' to his beloved metal monster. Although Chieftain has been mentioned in many book s about tanks, I think this is the first time that anyone has attempted to write a complete book about this remarkable vehicle. It has been a stimulating experience for me and I hope the result will appeal to an ever growing number of tank enthusiasts_

Bradford. 1978

George Forty

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