Challenger 2 entered service with the British Army in June 1998 and the last of the 386 tanks was delivered in April 2002, with an out of service date of 2025.

Challenger 2 entered service with the British Army in June 1998 and the last of the 386 tanks was delivered in April 2002, with an out of service date of 2025. In 2019, then-British Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt labelled the Challenger 2 as obsolete. Indeed the decommissioning has effectively started with just over 200 remaining, and many of those not in a fit state to be deployed. The plan, announced in 2021, involved upgrading 148 Challenger 2 tanks to Challenger 3s and retiring the remaining 79 vehicles. As I said above, we are sending extremely effective equipment, but its not the stuff rolling off the production lines at the skunk works. These main battle tanks that are being sent were destined for the scrapyard in the next couple of years.