Challenger 3 upgrade involves Jankel

Another participant in the British Army Challenger 3 MBT upgrade programme has been selected, after prime contractor Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land (RBSL) chose Jankel to design, develop and manufacture crew seats.

The deal, worth more than £2 million ($2.68 million), covers 148 seating sets (444 seats in total) for Challenger 3 commanders, gunners and loaders.

Jankel announced on 25 January that the contract is split into development and manufacturing phases. The former includes the design, development and integration of the new seat sets into the Challenger 3, followed by verification through design reviews and rigorous testing.

The manufacturing phase will follow in 2025 if all goes to plan.

RBSL received a contract from the UK MoD in May 2021 for the Challenger 3 programme to upgrade 148 Challenger 2s by 2027, in line with MoD plans in its March 2021 Command Paper.

In a parliamentary session held in November 2021 outlining the British Army's Future Soldier modernisation programme, the UK government stated that the first delivery of Challenger 3 will be accelerated to 2025.

Jankel is the first subcontractor to be selected by RBSL for the Challenger 3 upgrade, and Shephard understands that more will follow in the months to come. 

In June 2021, the UK MoD chose Rafael Advanced Defense Systems to provide a lightweight version of its Trophy Active Protection System.

At DSEI in September 2021, RBSL displayed a Challenger 3 prototype equipped with the Trophy MV system.

This article was amended on 31 January to note that the UK MoD awarded a subcontract to Rafael.