Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department plans to replace the 120mm L30A1 rifled tank gun with the Rheinmetall 120mm L55 smoothbore gun as part of the Challenger 2 Life Extension Programme.

The Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank remains a key capability for the British Army in the Government's Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 and Joint Force 2025 plans, which will see the Army structured for a war-fighting division drawn from two Armoured Infantry Brigades and two Strike Brigades. As such the Ministry of Defence (MOD) is investing £53 million in the assessment phase of a Life Extension Programme with further funding allocated for a demonstration and manufacture phase. This will ensure that the Challenger 2 remains amongst the most capable Main Battle tanks in operation with any Army in the world until at least 2035. At this stage these plans do not include a replacement for the main armament but the MOD is open to innovative and affordable proposals that could improve the current capability.