introduction

British Armour Evolution is written and translated into English by Carl Schulze. It was published in 2007 by Tankograd Publishing as part of their British Special series and contains 64 9.5" x 11" pages with text in German and translated very nicely into English. The book deals with some of the latest in upgraded armour protection for British vehicles. There are no scale drawings, color profiles, or interior shots. All the photos are in color and most views are from ground level. There are some photos of vehicles on exercise in the UK but most are of vehicles in Iraq and Afghanistan. Close-up photos center around the new armour and how they are mounted. This book concentrates on the Challenger, Warrior, and CVR(T) vehicles.

the chapters

The book's contents are organized into 10 chapters which cover the following:

"Modern British Armoured Vehicles - Introduction"
"Challenger 2 - Main Battle Tank"
"Walk Around - Challenger 2 w/Dorchester Level 2 Applique Armour and Enhanced Bar Armour"
"Challenger Armoured Repair and Recovery Vehicle"
"FV510 Warrior Armoured Infantry Fighting Vehicle"
"Walk Around - FV 510 Warrior AIFV w/ Enhanced Protection Bar Armour"
"FV512 Warrior Mechanized Combat Repair Vehicle and FV513 Warrior Mechanized Recovery Vehicle"
"Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked) Family"
"Walk Around - FV103 Spartan Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked) Armoured Personnel Carrier"
"Walk Around - FV107 Scimitar Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked)"

inside the book

The first chapter has a history of armour innovations and the requirements that caused their invention. There are photos of Chieftains with Stillbrew, Challengers with Chobham and ERA, and others with bar armour. Here one finds the only photo of a soft skin vehicle, a Saxon, with extra armour and some photos of the latest incarnation of the venerable FV432.

The rest of the book follows a formula of a chapter with text, summarizing the vehicle covered and the additions of armour. This is followed by one or more "Walk Around" chapters with both large area photos of example vehicles and close-up photos of the armour itself and how it is mounted. If I had a complaint, it would be that they put too many close-up photos on pages so it can be hard to see the details. It just seems to defeat the purpose of close-up shots.