Not the finished article yet, but an idea of what the planned Challenger 2 upgrade could look like from one of the teams in the competition:

https://www.janes.com/article/83009/bae-systems-details-black-night-demonstrator

That's the BAES pitch. Upgrade what we have. Rheinmetall are building a trials vehicle too, which will have the complete Leo A6/7 turret and smoothbore gun. But they have to solve the ammunition stowage conundrum, fitting one-piece rounds into spaces designed for 2-piece separate ammunition.

A 120 smoothbore was fitted into a CR2 over a decade ago and worked, but the ammunition stowage could not be solved and the Lethality Improvement Programme was shelved.

The final selection of the upgrade solution is due some time next year. Or maybe neither will be chosen ....... £££€€€

Interesting! I thought Rheinmetall were also working with a modified CR2 turret.

Not sure we're ready for a Challeopard… a Leoger… whatever

Whether or not it is ever put into production, I hope some manufacturer will pick it up, in scale form. Even a resin conversion would be appreciated.

Well my info may be out of date. I left MOD DE&S about 18 months ago. One of my old bosses there works for Rheinmetall now, another works for BAES Hagglunds and another for GDUK, but I'm not in touch with them. The idea of turret swap was certainly being talked about, and I understood that this was the major difference in approach between the 2 contenders,

The key problem with any such upgrade is systems integration and the attendant risks. Even fitting Bowman into vehicles not designed for it was a significant challenge.

The advantage of a turret swap is that the entire turret comes pre-integrated, significantly reducing the integration risk. Trying to fit new systems into spaces not designed to accommodate them can be very problematic, and a composite armoured turret is far harder to add lumps and bumps to in the way you can with solid steel armour. CR2 ended up with a completely new turret compared to CR.

It may be that MOD has now mandated retention of the rifled gun. It may also now be understood that hull ammunition stowage may be an insoluble problem with the space available, although Leo stores more rounds in the bustle. You could put a new back end on the CR2 turret, as the image suggests: but you don't need it for the rifled ammunition. A new engine to make more hull space would bust the budget and further increase the risk profile.

I guess we'll see in due course. I imagine it will become the Challenger 3 either way.

You may well be right - you have defence industry knowledge while I'm just going by what I've read online.

Another motive for putting a Leo turret on a Chally hull might be to enable manufacture of more of these:



All that would remain then would be to design a third tank consisting of a Challenger turret on a Leclerc hull

More pictures, including a better view of the APS:

http://www.israeldefense.co.il/en/node/35744

(link found via tank-net.com)