Build a new British tank factory

But we have one.

Staffed by a team with decades of expertise on building fighting vehicles

I can’t help it if Abbey Wood are a bunch of clowns who can’t be trusted to specify a sharp stick and demand battery packs more bloody explosive than the rounds fired by the main gun.

Why?

The UK isn’t made of money, and it needs to concentrate its investment and expertise on the areas that will gain the best return. 

Germany’s Leopard appears to be Europe’s favourite. The UK could benefit by sharing development costs with others in getting its heavy armour.

At the moment the UK depleted military is rated as below useful by some US military. So there must be other areas where British expertise can usefully put its arms expenditure…

We've got one in France or Germany or..........

As I said, German.

We get our water from a French company and water needs tanks. 🤣

Really ?

Ajax is German ?

My former team of naval missile developers, who went to Siemens Plessey and developed the Finnish Air Traffic Management Information radar console when Ferranti fell, while I went to Project Manage the abortion and disaster that was the Flight Planning Console, and who from there transferred to the American / Canadian outfit General Dynamics who took over the British outfit Computing Devices I went to do the Tornado Low Level simulator for, now make fighting vehicles whose batteries are more dangerous than their ammunition. I wasn’t aware myself if German involvement in the design, if there had been, the things might actually have worked.

Isn't it true that the Leopard 2 has a 120mm smoothbore gun, which is considered to be superior to the Challenger 2's 120mm rifled gun, because the smoothbore has benefitted from continuous ammunition developments?

It's also been reported that the British Army plans to ditch its older gun and fit a 120mm smoothbore gun to Challenger 3 when it enters service in 2027.

Although there's a belief that Challenger 2 is better protected than either Leopard 2 or M1 Abrams, modern anti-tank guided missiles are lethal. To counter ATGMs, Leopard 2 and M1 Abrams are fitted with active defensive systems able to defeat incoming anti-tank missiles.

Challenger does not have this feature yet, though it is planned.

Tanks are expensive — several millions each. Wouldn't it be more cost-effective for the UK to cooperate with the Germans on tank development and manufacture, especially as the Leopard enjoys a larger number of customers than the Challenger...?