Shut up about the Challenger 2

"I'll do a shorter video, one that'll only take me about a week to throw together"
-Lazerpig on the 3rd of March before writing a 45-page script, then having to re-write half of it twice.
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use code 'lazer' 10% off purchases
something something Wifu cup.
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Before the T-14 Dramarta rolled onto the scene, the most controversial tank in the modern military enthusiast's meme catalog was the Challenger 2.
Much slated for being expensive, over-weight, with a frontal plate so weak it could be penetrated by cannons from World War Two, and a gun that couldn't compete with modern armor.
It was seen as a tank that was, impressive for its time in theory, but built by a cash-strapped former world power and thus had fallen far below the standard, an upgrade, to an upgrade, to an upgrade that no one in the British army had ever wanted to begin with and only tolerated out of a sense of national pride.
But is any of that true?

Long-term fans of my channel can probably guess the answer.
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The Socials.
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Noted errors:
The "Streetfighter" upgrade doesn't exist, it was a made-up name in a report by Capt Tom Quant and basically involved painting the tank in a more snazzy camouflage.
The actual upgrade package is called TES (Theatre Entry Standard) and includes other upgrades like a remote gun on the turret roof and an absolute bollock-load of ERA.

The ammunition is three-piece, not two-piece.
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References/Sources:

[ejnorth]

How to tell if Tank Good
-Troops like it
-Logistics like it
-Enemies hate it
-Reformers hates it

[ncojm]

the pig's commitment to getting GamerSupps to regret their sponsorship is honestly awe-inspiring. These ads are works of art.

[amatthew]

"Guys, as Prime Minister I have a great new idea. Let's get rid of the military"

_Taxes still go up_

[SirFloofy]

"so stealthy its never been seen in combat" that one got a chortle

[DjDolHaus]

Nobody tells me to shut up about the Challenger 2 and gets away with it. Except that one guy in an M1 Abrams who shouted it as he was driving past, I guess he got away with it

[CollKill]

Marine tank mechanic here. I can’t confirm that it takes a little under an hour to swap a power pack on an M1 A1 Abrams. Me and my guys used to be able to do it in less than 30 minutes.

[hrgiyzueghe]

I once wrote a wiki article with serious sources (official government documents, books, academic papers) and it got flagged for not having good enough sources. Then some guy uses Reddit as a source and nothing happens.

[AlephTroll]

“Scotland Yard refused to investigate.”
Why is nobody surprised by that

[Wfalen]

Fun fact, my country(Finland) was mocked for decades because we had a large artillery and tank force(for our size). Nobody understood why we held onto even old cold war era artillery guns, and continued to buy new MLRS systems in the 2010s. We even hold yearly live fire excercises with them which shocked many central european nations. I remember reading how other european countries are retiring all their tanks, and maybe we should too because who are we using them against? "Russia has problems but they can be handled" they said.
Nobodys mocking us now for keeping all that. In fact a lot of new jobs are now opening in munitions factories.

[ProzacPie]

The multiple tangents and off-roads that you took during this video give far more context to the topic than mere stats ever will. Well said. Insightful. Respect.

[wonghy]

"Freedom called, and it was Europe who answered" is a hard fucking line

[BeyondTheGrave]

@LazerPig, back in 2015 I did an Erasmus internship at this London based architect company that was run by Italian immigrants. I'm a Finn and I had done my mandatory conscript service years before. When the 2014 invasion of Crimea happened, our Armed Forces sent out this "reservist letter" to every reservist who had a wartime position. The letter basically told you what your job was if a war breaks out. One day at the office I mentioned to my colleagues about our building norms that require each apartment block to have a bunker built into the cellar and I also mentioned that letter. My Italian coworkers all looked at me kinda weirdly and then my boss (who was Italian) asked me: "Why?". I told him that it was all in case a war broke out. He replied to me: "What war? That is ridiculous, there's no need for that because there will never be any war ". I replied that one can never be too sure and it's not stupidity to be prepared for such a thing. He looked at me along his nose, smirked and commented something about the stupidity of it all and continued his work.

I kinda like to know what he thinks of my country's preparedness now? His attitude immediately came into my mind when you talked about NATO's readiness level back in those days.

[swingpower]

In about 50 years we will have a full series of every military vehicle ever made.

[KolinAlayon-nqxv]

12:51 people also forget that US armored vehicles today also have ration heaters. We had one in our strykers. We had one in our bradleys, and the tankers have them too. Its literally NATO doctrine to stay inside Vehicles in a CBRN environment. Youre not supposed to use the FRHs in MREs in enclosed spaces. Every NATO vehicle that can create a slight positive pressure atmosphere for CBRN environments have ration heaters. If you were in the US army and you didnt see one, its because your unit took them out to make space for stowage and now nobody knows they exist in the conex.

[MountainBound]

I think it should be noted that US was caught with its pants down too. Military budgets for the last two decades have been high, but focused on weapons suited for low intensity, high precision, high cost warfare. While these have served Ukraine well, the ability to ramp up manufacture of both these precision weapon systems and simple items like artillery shells was quite limited. The US industrial base is going through a learning process just like Europe on how to scale up manufacturing for a high intensity war.

[AnimarchyHistory]

This video must have been quite a challenge to make.

[armorhide]

"Proud that it's last great Huzzah was the defiant roar of cannon fire and not whimpering of spineless politicians" is an AMAZING line

[alphaandomega]

Bloody Yank here. I've honestly never had a bad impression on the Challenger or any modern British tank, I've always found them to be just what Britain needed for their defense. Maybe they have some trouble in certain theaters, but that comes down to poor logistics not design. Any good soldier knows if you take care of your equipment, it takes care of you.
As for the accusation that it was built to be just "good enough", a wise man I have great respect for said this: "sometimes good enough, is just perfect"

[Swaggs]

“James we’re trying to prove that British Leyland occasionally made good cars. You’re not helping.”

[smoketinytom]

Having Rupert Murdoch effectively called "The Good guy" was the most shocking revelation in this video.