Great Britain has checked the combat readiness of Challenger 2 tanks before sending them to Ukraine. In summary, it has 157 vehicles that can be prepared for transfer within a 30-day period, The Defense Post reports. The information was revealed during a UK Defence Committee meeting to discuss Britain's aid to Ukraine in the ongoing war against russia.
In general, the tank situation in the UK is as follows: British Army has 227 tanks on paper but only 157 are combat-capable, or 70% of the totality.
Read more: British Tank Challenger 2: Unique Features, Capabilities and Specifications
Although, the indicator of 70% working tanks is rather not a bad one, considering that Germany, for example, has only 30% of combat-ready Leopard 2 tanks out of total 300, according to André Wüstner, Chairman of the German Armed Forces Association.
Back to the UK, we should mention that in addition to the tanks in service, the British Army also has about 70 tanks in storage, some of them need in-depth maintenance before they are put back to duty, and some of them will likely be dismantled (decomposed) into spare parts. By the way, an important factor is that a number of Challenger 2 production lines were shut down, so these tanks may prove to be in handy when the need for spare components becomes crucial.
Keep in mind, some of the Challenger 2 tanks will goto Ukrainian battlefields. Initially, 14 tanks were announced for the transfer, but recently, the number of tanks for Ukraine has doubled up to 28 vehicles. Most likely, these 14 additional tanks will come not from service but from the storage.
We should also recall that the United Kingdom announced plans to modernize 148 of its tanks up to the Challnger 3 version. And the British authorities are studying whether the number can be increased. Preliminary estimates show, 9 more tanks may be upgraded this way as well.
Read more: The Challenger 2 Tanks Supply to Start In May-June: London Explained the Reason For the Delay
