Challenger 2 OES

This page is about the premium British medium tank Challenger 2 OES. For other versions, see Challenger 2 (Family).

Challenger 2 OES

Challenger 2 OES

Description

The Challenger 2 OES is a modification for the Challenger 2 tank made to improve its survivability in high intensity battles. With the introduction of ERA blocks covering the sides and front of the vehicle, this protection was meant to deal specially with RPGs and ATGMs in urban combat. The vehicle also received updated protection against IEDs. The upgrade started development based on the Challenger 2 TES, which is almost identical; this upgrade was created as a response to the asymmetric warfare scenario of Iraq 2002, in which IEDs and urban combat doomed many NATO tanks due to their poor protection on the sides. The US developed a similar upgrade with the TUSK ERA package for their M1 Abrams tanks.

Introduced in Update "Air Superiority", the Challenger 2 OES is very similar to other Challenger 2 tanks. However, the increased weight due to the ERA and added composite screens does not include an upgraded engine, which means that the mobility of the Challenger 2 OES is mediocre when compared to earlier Challenger 2s. However, this comes with increased protection against both APFSDS projectiles and ATGMs, the ERA and composite screens are enough to increase the protection against other tanks in critical areas, while they also increase the chances of enemy ATGMs not penetrating the vehicle on the sides of the tank and the turret. However, the weak spot in the lower front plate is still present so take that into consideration and hide your hull whenever possible.

General info

Survivability and armour

Describe armour protection. Note the most well protected and key weak areas. Appreciate the layout of modules as well as the number and location of crew members. Is the level of armour protection sufficient, is the placement of modules helpful for survival in combat? If necessary use a visual template to indicate the most secure and weak zones of the armour.

Armour type:

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	___ mm	___ mm Top ___ mm Bottom	___ mm	___ - ___ mm
Turret	___ - ___ mm Turret front ___ mm Gun mantlet	___ - ___ mm	___ - ___ mm	___ - ___ mm
Cupola	___ mm	___ mm	___ mm	___ mm

Notes:

Mobility

Write about the mobility of the ground vehicle. Estimate the specific power and manoeuvrability, as well as the maximum speed forwards and backwards.

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade				1,886			__.__
Realistic				1,076			__.__

Armaments

Main armament

Give the reader information about the characteristics of the main gun. Assess its effectiveness in a battle based on the reloading speed, ballistics and the power of shells. Do not forget about the flexibility of the fire, that is how quickly the cannon can be aimed at the target, open fire on it and aim at another enemy. Add a link to the main article on the gun: {{main|Name of the weapon}}. Describe in general terms the ammunition available for the main gun. Give advice on how to use them and how to fill the ammunition storage.

120 mm L30A1					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	49	-10°/+20°	±180°	Two-plane	29.5	40.8	49.6	54.9	58.4	6.50	5.75	5.30	5.00
Realistic					18.4	21.7	26.4	29.2	31.0

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
Shot L23A1	APFSDS	396	394	387	376	367	357
Shell L31A7	HESH	152	152	152	152	152	152
L26	APFSDS	493	491	487	481	474	468
L27A1	APFSDS	564	562	557	551	545	538

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg)	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
Shot L23A1	APFSDS	1,535	3.89	-	-	-	78°	80°	81°
Shell L31A7	HESH	670	17.34	0.1	4	6.53	73°	77°	80°
L26	APFSDS	1,650	4.3	-	-	-	78°	80°	81°
L27A1	APFSDS	1,650	4.3	-	-	-	78°	80°	81°

Smoke shell characteristics
Ammunition	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Screen radius (m)	Screen deploy time (s)	Screen hold time (s)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)
L34	670	17.1	20	5	25	50

Ammo racks

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	6th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
49	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__

Machine guns

Offensive and anti-aircraft machine guns not only allow you to fight some aircraft but also are effective against lightly armoured vehicles. Evaluate machine guns and give recommendations on its use.

12.7 mm M2HB
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
Pintle	1,000 (200)	575	-10°/+50°	±180°

7.62 mm L94A1
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
Coaxial	2,000 (2,000)	600	-	-

Usage in battles

Describe the tactics of playing in the vehicle, the features of using vehicles in the team and advice on tactics. Refrain from creating a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view but instead give the reader food for thought. Describe the most dangerous enemies and give recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of the game in different modes (AB, RB, SB).

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Retains pros from previous challenger 2:
  • Impressive chemical protection on the front and sides
  • Impressive kinetic protection on either side of the cannon breech, allowing for efficient hull down combat
  • Access to unique and powerful HESH round
  • Very accurate L30A1 120 mm gun, can even fire HESH accurately at a range of several kilometres
  • Fast reload
• Roof mounted machine gun has access to thermal and can be used as a makeshift CITV for scouting (but not firing, unfortunately)
• Access to 12.7 mm machine gun, a rare luxury on British tanks
• Since it is a premium tank, its RP and SL gains are doubled and it can research any British tanks currently in the game

Cons:

• The jammer is useless in-game and begs other tanks to scout it out or use HE on it
• Heaviest MBT in the game with a very poor hp/ton ratio; very poor acceleration
• Slow turret traverse speed for the BR
• Very poor steering, turning is slow and costs a great deal of speed, which takes a long time to regain
• In most situations, can only reach around 40 km/h (25 mph)
• Also retains weaknesses of previous challenger 2 models:
  • Same ammunition options as the previous Challengers
  • Frontal armour is weak at the lower frontal plate, drivers port, and cannon breech
  • L27A1 has low penetration compared to other top rank NATO ammunition, however reload speed does compensate for this
  • Cannot maintain the short reload time after the first-stage ammo rack (4 rounds) has been depleted

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the vehicle in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the Challenger 2 OES from live.warthunder.com.

See also

Related development

• Challenger 2 (Family)

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.