Airfix 02305 Chieftain Tank

The FV 4201 Chieftain was a British Main Battle Tank from the Cold War period. The first prototypes of the vehicle were built in 1959, and serial production continued in 1966-1978, ending with the production of 2,265 units. The Chieftain was powered by an engine Leyland L60 with 750 HP . The basic version of the vehicle is armed with a single 120mm L11A5 cannon and two 7.62mm L7 machine guns.

The Chieftain was created to replace the very successful Centurion tank in the ranks of the British Army. The Chieftain, however, was designed to be even more heavily armored and armed - the 120mm gun was used instead of the 105mm gun. The new tank turned out to be a successful design that lived up to the hopes placed on it. It remained in British service for 30 years (from 1965 to 1995) and was successful in foreign markets. It was also modernized many times. One of them was the Chieftain Mk. 5 - the first large-scale version of the tank, with a 750hp engine and improved protection against weapons of mass destruction. Another was the Chieftain Mk.11, which had improved observation devices and some elements of the fire control system (SKO). Based on the Chieftain tank, the following were also created: the Jordanian Khalid tank and the Iranian Shir 2, which was never delivered to the recipient and entered service with the British Army as the Challenger 1. The Chieftain tank took part in several armed conflicts, including: Iranian (1980-1988). It was also exported to, among others, Iran, Iraq and Jordan.