British Army Tests Challenger 2 Tanks with New Drone Reconnaissance Strike Capability

The British Army has announced that over 350 personnel from the Queen’s Royal Hussars have completed Exercise Senne Hussar at Sennelager, Germany, which focused on testing new means of integrating surveillance and strike drones into armoured operations. This represents part of a broader modernisation effort aimed at accelerating target acquisition, improving tactical connectivity, and fielding the Army’s first dedicated Find and Strike Squadron. The new capabilities tested have the potential to significantly improve the combat capabilities of Challenger 2 tank units, responding to changes in armoured warfare that been clearly observed during the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian War. 

Exercise Senne Hussar integrated unmanned aircraft directly into manoeuvre operations, rather than treating drones as separate support assets, with surveillance and strike drones deployed from moving armoured vehicles without requiring crews to dismount. This approach preserves crew protection, reduces exposure to fire, and allows units to maintain operational momentum while extending their sensor reach. The concept of a Find and Strike Squadron combines reconnaissance, drone-enabled ISR, and precision strike capabilities within a single armoured formation, enabling tank units to identify, track, and engage targets at greater ranges, with the Challenger 2 serving not only as a direct-fire platform, but also as part of a digitally integrated reconnaissance-strike system. It mirrors similar integration of unmanned vehicles with tanks which new generations of Chinese tanks have pioneered.

In 2025 the British Army expanded its fleet of Challenger 2 tanks by 32 percent, bringing 69 of the vehicles out of storage and into service. The decision to expand the fleet was taken at a time when British forces have for years been heavily involved in active hostilities with Russia in the Ukrainian theatre, including deployments of Royal Marines for frontline operations from early 2022. The capabilities of the Challenger 2 have been repeatedly brought to question, however, including by British experts, and by Ukrainain crews who have used the vehicles in high intensity combat. The tank’s reliance on first generation thermal sights, compared to the third generation sights used on more modern vehicles such as the Russian T-90M and South Korean K2, are a major shortcoming, while reliance on a rifled rather than a smoothbore gun, has resulted in a significantly poorer penetrative capability against enemy armour. Ukrainian crews have also considered the tank to be underpowered, with its 1,200 horsepower engine resulting in a poor power/weight ratio for the 70 ton vehicles.

Former British Army officer and prominent defence commentator Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Crawford in October observed that the Challenger 2 was built around a “now obsolete design philosophy,” and that “current generation of Western main battle tanks, Leopard 2, M1A2 Abrams, and now CR3, are increasingly seen as too large, heavy, costly, and vulnerable to justify further development along traditional lines.” Regarding the Challenger 2’s layout, Crawford observed that “the traditional three-crew turret layout is outdated when autoloaders and remote turrets are widely available.” He added that future tanks “are likely to follow Russia’s T-14 Armata model, with crews enclosed in armoured capsules within the hull. This approach reduces the vehicle’s profile and weight.” The Chinese Type 100 is currently the only operational tank type build around such a design concept, with the Russian T-14 having suffered extreme delays, while other next generation vehicles remain at much earlier development stages.