Many modellers who grew up during the 1970s and 1980s will remember the Chieftain as the British Army's Main Battle Tank, with these 55 ton giants forming part of NATO's first line of defence at the height of the Cold War. The Chieftain was conceived in the early 1950s as a replacement for the Centurion and Conqueror tanks and saw over two decades service before being replaced by Challenger 1 in the 1980s. The Fighting Vehicles Research and Development Establishment or FVRDE, with Leyland Motors as main design contractors, undertook design work for the Chieftain. The Chieftain had many innovative features such as a reclining position for the driver when 'closed down' so that the glacis plate could be angled to give better ballistic protection. Also, the main armament, a rifled 120mm gun, had ammunition with separate bagged charges and was installed in the turret without an external mantlet. The tank was accepted into British Army service in May 1963, and the Chieftain entered service in 1966 with production being shared between Vickers-Armstrong and Royal Ordinance.
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