[RN7]

It would be a nice looking tank and if the American and German armies were building turretless tanks then why not the British Army too! but I really don't see it ever being built for a number of reasons.

The Challenger 2 is an extremely powerful tank and its armour protection is considered the toughest on any tank in the world. Only one has ever been destroyed in combat and that was by another Challenger 2 in a friendly fire incident. Its vastly superior to anything the Soviet have and even the Challenger 1 is better than anything the Soviets had, so why would Britain build a new tank?

The British Army never adopted the Challenger 2E because it wasn't designed for its needs. The Challenger 2E was designed for export to the Middle East; it has a few different sensors and its German MTU engine is smaller than the British Perkins but has a more powerful power pack and a cooling system and air-intake filtration system for desert use with increased range and it can stow a few more rounds. It's a bit faster on roads or on flat surfaces, but has no real advantage in the European countryside which is where the British Army will be fighting. But British Army units sent to the Middle East might have a few of them.

The L-30A2 120mm main gun might be developed, but the L-30 on the Challenger 2 uses APFSDS L26 (Charm 1) and APFSDS L27A1(Charm 2) with depleted uranium long rod penetrator projectiles.

Britain only has two tank factories in Newcastle and Leeds both owned by Vickers. The production rate for a tank as big and sophisticated as a Challenger 2 is likely to be no more than 20 a month, so unless they build a new tank factory for the Centaur I couldn't see them squeezing it in.