The book describes the vehicle development activities carried out at the Military Vehicles Research and Development Establishment on Chobham Common from the end of World War II through to its close in 2004. For most of this period it was the design authority for all British Military vehicles and hence was responsible for the design and development of all Cold War Main Battle Tanks from Centurion through to the Challenger Main, and many other wheeled and tracked armoured vehicles.
Through much of World War II British tanks and armoured vehicles were outmatched by the German tanks they encountered. This led to the British Army placing much emphasis during the Cold War on ensuring that the same situation would not arise again should it face mass attacks by Soviet armoured forces. The task of developing the Main Battle Tanks and supporting armoured vehicles to out-range and quickly destroy the Soviet threat fell to the scientists and engineers at the Fighting Vehicle Research and Development Establishment on Chobham Common near to Chertsey. This book tells the story of British cold war armour development from the perspective of that establishment and the drive to respond from the ever-developing threat and the need to maintain freedom of movement on the potentially nuclear battlefield.
The development of the major world leading armoured platforms that served the British Army of The Rhine is described, along with the many other novel and advanced design schemes and concepts that were considered but in most cases never left the drawing board. The vehicles developed at the Chertsey site were never used for their intended purpose on the plains of North-west Germany, but have proved their worth in British operations in places like Korea, Bosnia, Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as in the hands of other users around the world.
