Chieftains were supplied to at least six countries, including Iran, Kuwait, Oman and Jordan. The Chieftains were continuously upgraded until the early 1990s when they were replaced by the Challenger series. Like its European competitors, the Chieftain found a large export market in the Middle East, but was not adopted by any other NATO or Commonwealth countries. Secondary armament consisted of a coaxial L8A1 7.62mm machine gun, and another 7.62mm machine gun mounted on the commander's cupola. The gun was fully stabilised with a fully computerised integrated control system. Later, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, a laser rangefinder replaced it, allowing engagements at much longer ranges, and also linked to the fire-control system, allowing more rapid engagements and changes of target. Initially, Chieftain was equipped with a 12.7mm ranging machine gun mounted above the main gun, firing ranging shots out to 2,400m. The gun itself could fire a wide range of ammunition, but the most commonly loaded types were HESH or APDS. This differed from most contemporary main tank armament as it used projectiles and charges which were loaded separately, as opposed to a single fixed round. The main armament was the 120mm L11A5 rifled gun.
The suspension was of the Horstmann bogie type, with large side plates to protect the tracks and provide stand-off protection from hollow charge attack. To the left side of the turret was a large infra-red searchlight in an armoured housing.
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The Chieftain had a mantleless turret, in order to take full advantage of reclining the vehicle up to 10° in a hull-down position. The engine selected took the multi-fuel route and as introduced gave less than the planned output improvements to the engine did not increase power to the desired value. The heavy armour came at the price of reduced mobility, chiefly due to engine power limitations, which was perhaps the Chieftain's main drawback. Chieftain was designed to be as well protected as possible and to be equipped with a powerful 120mm rifled cannon. It was a radical evolutionary development of the successful Centurion line of tanks that had emerged at the end of WWII. A red rubber plug is also supplied for the cannon barrel when operating in non-firing mode.The FV4201 Chieftain was the main battle tank of the UK from its introduction in 1967.
A red warning light flashes when the tank is about to shoot, and the firing mechanism can be switched off by a separate switch hidden under the hatch.
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