Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the level of requirement for a successor capability to Challenger 3 beyond its planned out-of-service date.

The Ministry of Defence has assessed that there remains an enduring requirement for the capability provided by a Main Battle Tank. The Challenger 3 Main Battle Tank will provide the British Army’s principal armoured fighting capability through the 2030s, and the Department continues to consider how this capability should be sustained in the longer term. No decisions have yet been taken on a specific successor programme.