SD:Challenger

 is a British Tank unit unique to the 15th infantry. It has the armour of a cromwell tank but the firepower of a Firefly.

Overview
First faced with more powerful enemy tanks in North Africa such as the Tiger E, the British army needed a new tank using the potent 17-pdr. More priority was given to the Challenger tank after the Cromwell tank proved unsuitable to mount the 17-pounder. The Challenger followed standard Cruiser tank doctrine of the time, meaning that it was designed to be fast but sacrificing armour in the process. At the same time, the British managed (with some design difficulties) to fit a 17-pdr in the readily available Sherman tank, leading to the well-known Sherman Firefly. Converting Shermans to the Firefly proved easier than producing Challenger tanks and simplified logistics, which is why only 200 Challengers were built. The tank became obsolete after the British introduced the Comet tank at the end of the war.

While it possessed good mobility and had a lower profile than the Firefly, the Challenger was poorly armoured and had to rely on its speed to avoid being destroyed.

Strategy
The challenger sports a powerful and accurate gun able to reliably penetrate the armour of almost all German tanks. Armour remains its principal weakness, though. It will be reduced to a burning wreckage and a waste of British steel in protracted engagements (especially since the gun has a long reload time), making it vital not to expose it to enemy anti-tank fire for long periods of time. Dedicated anti-tank planes such as the HS 129 B3 Tank Buster also pose a grave threat to the Challenger.

These characteristics make the challenger unsuitable to spearpoint offensives or take much return fire and it is best suited in a sniper/support role.