Armament: 120mm rifled gun, coaxial machine gun, AA machine gun Speed: 30 mph This vehicle was issued to UK forces in 1963 and was the mainstay in the British Army of the Rhine on the North German Plain till it was replaced by the Challenger beginning in 1982. 450 were exported to Iran, Kuwait, Jordan and Oman. The Iranians found the Chieftain to be highly effective during their long war with Iraq. A chief complaint about the Chieftain was its relatively slow speed and low horsepower-to-weight ratio. In fact, the Shah of Iran ordered Chieftains with improved engines and fire control. These were not delivered because of the fall of the Shah in 1979, but they did end up in the Jordanian army and are known as the Khalid. Aberdeen Proving Grounds A Visit Part 2 Introduction T-54 Main Battle Tank (Soviet Union) BTR-60 Armored Personnel Carrier (Soviet Union) T-62 Main Battle Tank (Soviet Union) BRDM-2 Scout Car (Soviet Union) M-60 Main Battle Tank (U.S.A.) Chieftain Main Battle Tank (United Kingdom) PT-76 Light Tank (Soviet Union) Back to Table of Contents The Messenger February 2003 Back to The Messenger List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2003 by HMGS/PSW. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles covering military history and related topics are available at http://www.magweb.com