Chieftain tank

The FV 4201 Chieftain was the main battle tank of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s. It was one of the most advanced tanks of its era, and at the time of its introduction in 1966 had the most powerful main gun and heaviest armour of any tank in the world.Richard M. Ogorkiewicz, Jane's - The Technology of Tanks, Jane's Information Group, p.69 The Chieftain also introduced a supine (lying backwards) driver position, enabling a heavily sloped hull with reduced height.

Development

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.

In the post war period, the British Army bolstered the Centurion with the 120 mm gun Conqueror heavy tank for long range anti-tank firepower against the Soviet IS-3.

Leyland, who had been involved in Centurion, had built their own prototypes of a new tank design in 1956, and these led to a War Office specification for a new tank. The design was accepted in the early 1960s. Chieftain was designed to be as well protected as possible and to be equipped with a powerful 120 mm rifled gun. The heavy armour came at the price of reduced mobility, chiefly due to engine...
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