Black Night
Contents
Description
The Challenger 2, Black Night is a rank VIII British medium tank with a battle rating of 12.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Wind of Change".
General info
Survivability and armour
Armour type:
- Rolled homogeneous armour
- Cast homogeneous armour (turret inner wall, hatches)
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 38 mm (79-82°) Upper glacis - Top 50 mm (60°) Upper glacis - Bottom 70 mm (28°) Lower glacis 60 mm Driver hatch |
25+38 mm Top - Front 25+50 mm Top - Rear 38 mm (14°) + 4 mm Bottom |
50 mm (30°) | 38 mm (10°) Front glacis 20 mm Fighting compartment 25 mm (16-20°) Sides 10 mm Engine vents |
| Turret | 50+50+38 mm (50°) 30 mm (0-52°) Gun mantlet |
10+38 mm (7°) Front 20+38 mm (7°) Rear |
20 mm (17°) + 38 mm (7°) | 38 mm (8-15°) Front 38+10 mm Centre 25 mm (7°) Rear |
| Cupola | 60 mm | 60 mm | 60 mm | 44 mm |
Notes:
- Suspension wheels, tracks, and torsion bars are 20 mm thick.
- Belly armour is 16 mm thick.
- A 5 mm internal plate separates the crew from the engine.
- Ammunition is surrounded by 5 mm casings
- A 25 mm plate separates the driver from the crew compartment.
- Additional composite armour is as follows:
| Composite armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides |
|---|---|---|
| Hull | Upper Kinetic: 420-1,000 mm Chemical: 700-950 mm Lower Kinetic: 100-400 mm Chemical: 350-570 mm |
|
| Turret | Cheeks Kinetic: 440-720 mm Chemical: 780-1,000 mm |
Internal Composite Kinetic: 190-740 mm Chemical: 300-1,000 mm |
Mobility
| Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
| Arcade | 66 | 42 | 65 | 1,886 | 2,322 | 29.02 | 35.72 |
| Realistic | 60 | 38 | 1,076 | 1,217 | 16.55 | 18.72 | |
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
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Armaments
Main armament
| 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 | 50 | -10°/+20° | ±180° | Two-plane | 29.5 | 40.9 | 49.6 | 54.9 | 58.4 | 6.50 | 5.75 | 5.30 | 5.00 |
| Realistic | 18.4 | 21.7 | 26.4 | 29.1 | 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) (g) |
Ricochet | ||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | |||||||
| Shot L23A1 | APFSDS | 1,535 | 3.89 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 78° | 80° | 81° |
| Shell L31A7 | HESH | 670 | 17.1 | 0.1 | 4 | 6,560 | 73° | 77° | 80° |
| L26 | APFSDS | 1,650 | 4.1 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 78° | 80° | 81° |
| L27A1 | APFSDS | 1,650 | 4.1 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ |
Machine guns
| 7.62 mm L37A2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Pintle | 1,700 (100) | 650 | -10°/+25° | -90°/+60° |
| 7.62 mm L94A1 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Coaxial | 2,300 (2,000) | 600 | N/A | N/A |
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
Summarise and briefly evaluate the vehicle in terms of its characteristics and combat effectiveness. Mark its pros and cons in a bulleted list. Try not to use more than 6 points for each of the characteristics. Avoid using cateorical definitions such as "bad", "good" and the like - use substitutions with softer forms such as "inadequate" and "effective".
Pros:
Cons:
History
The Black Night demonstrator was BAE System's bid for the Challenger 2 Life Extension Programme contract, prior to the forming of the Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land (RBSL) joint venture company in July 2019.
The Black Night was fully unveiled in October 2018 and showed a focus on improving the technology of the vehicle, with a Safran PASEO panoramic Commander Primary Sight, a generation 3 Leonardo thermal imaging system (still mounted in the housing above the main gun), a laser warning system, the Iron Fist Hardkill Active Protection System, regenerative braking in the turret ring, and a new fire control system. The armour and firepower were retained from the base Challenger 2, as was the powerpack.
Rheinmetall's proposal was revealed in January 2019, featuring the Rh 120 mm L/55 gun (L55A1 in British use) and a completely new turret. When RBSL was formed, an internal decision was made in favour of Rheinmetall's design, which was seen again at DSEI 2019, putting the Black Night proposal to rest. The MoD confirmed the signing of a £800M (~$1.1B at the time) contract with RBSL for Challenger 3 using Rheinmetall's design on 7th May 2021.
Media
Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.
See also
External links
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- other literature.
| Britain medium tanks | |
|---|---|
| Valentine | Valentine I · Valentine IX · Valentine XI |
| Cromwell | Cromwell I · Cromwell V · Cromwell V (RP-3) |
| Cromwell derivatives | Challenger · Avenger · Comet I · Comet I "Iron Duke IV" · Charioteer Mk VII |
| Centurion | Centurion Mk 1 · Centurion Mk.2 · Centurion Mk 3 · Centurion Mk.5 AVRE · Centurion Mk 10 · Centurion Action X · FV4202 |
| Vickers MBT | Vickers Mk.1 · Vickers Mk.3 · Vickers Mk.7 |
| Chieftain | Chieftain Mk 3 · Chieftain Mk 5 · Chieftain Mk 10 |
| Challenger 1 | Challenger Mk.2 · Challenger Mk.3 · Challenger DS |
| Challenger 2 | Challenger 2 · Challenger 2 (2F) · Challenger 2 TES · Challenger 2 OES · Challenger 2E · Challenger 2 Black Night |
| Challenger 3 | Challenger 3 TD |
| Australia | A.C.I · A.C.IV · Centurion Mk.5/1 |
| South Africa | Olifant Mk.1A · Olifant Mk.2 · TTD |
| India | Vijayanta · Bhishma TWMP |
| Israel | ▄Sho't Kal Dalet |
| Jordan | Khalid |
| Sweden | ▄Strv 81 (RB 52) |
| USA | Grant I · Sherman II · Sherman Firefly · Sherman IC "Trzyniec" |
- Ground vehicles
- Britain ground vehicles
- Eighth rank ground vehicles
- Medium tanks
- Ground vehicles with composite armour
- Ground vehicles with smoke grenades
- Ground vehicles with engine smoke generating system
- Ground vehicles with night vision device
- Ground vehicles with thermal sight
- Ground vehicles with gun stabilizer
