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Main battle tank
Vickers MBT is a main battle tank originating in United Kingdom. It was built by Vickers Defence Systems. Reported operators include Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania.
United KingdomVickers MBT family, source-pictured decommissioned Vijayanta licensed-built variant displayed at Marina Park, Port Blair; not proof of current service or another variant’s fit.
Biswarup Ganguly · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Resized / optimized · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source ↗ · ModifiedMain battle tank
United Kingdom
1965–2008
See Operators
Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait 2019 India–Pakistan standoff
Vickers
Vickers Defence Systems
1964–1994
38 t (42 short tons)
9.73 m (31 ft 11 in) overall gun forward
3.17 m (10 ft 5 in)
2.44 m (8 ft 0 in)
4
Gun mantlet : 80 mm Turret front: 60 mm Turret sides: 40 mm Glacis: 60 mm Lower hull front: 80 mm Hull sides: 30 mm
1 x 105 mm L7A1 gun (44 rounds)
1 x 12.7 mm L6A1 ranging machine gun with 700 rounds 1 x 7.62 mm MG (pintle mount) with 1,300 rounds 1 x 7.62 mm MG (coax) with 1,300 rounds
Leyland L60 (multi-fuel 2-stroke opposed-piston compression-ignition ) 535 hp (399 kW) 6 cyl, 19 litres
13.79 bhp/t
Merrit-Wilson TN-12 (6 fwd / 2 rev) with a triple differential steering system
Torsion bars
480 km (300 miles) on roads
Road: 48 km/h (30 mph) Off road: 30 km/h (19 mph)
Kenya - 76 MBT Mk 3 and 7 ARV delivered in 1979–1982
Nigeria - 136 MBT Mk 3, 12 ARV and 26 AVLB delivered in 1983–1995
Tanzania - 4 ARV delivered in 1989
India - 90 Vickers Mk. 1 built by Vickers and shipped to India in 1965 where it carried the designation Vijayanta (phased out in 2008).
Kuwait - 70 Vickers Mk. 1 delivered in 1970–1972, probably no longer operational
Iraq - limited usage of captured Kuwaiti Mk. 1s, all scrapped or destroyed.
Boko Haram - few Nigerian Mk. 3 were captured, later they were knocked out or recaptured by Nigerian Army.
The Vickers MBT is a series of main battle tanks (MBTs) developed as a private venture by British company Vickers-Armstrongs for export.
The Vickers MBT followed on from a 24-tonne 20-pdr gunned tank design intended for export. This would be as well equipped as a Centurion but substantially cheaper and with eight Vickers Vigilant anti-tank missiles it would be as effective. However, with the introduction of the 105 mm L7 gun into the British, US and German tank designs, this light tank would have been less powerful while too large for the reconnaissance role, and so a new design was required. With armour twice that of the light tank design, it would still be 12 tonnes lighter than Centurion and hence more mobile. The design would use the new engine and transmission of the Chieftain tank then being developed. The development coincided with an agreement with India in 1961 to produce a tank design and help set up a factory there to produce it.
The Vickers was made of welded rolled homogeneous armour plates. It weighed 38,600 kg, carried a 105 mm gun with 44 rounds and had a top speed of 48 km/h. 70 tanks were sold to Kuwait and many of a modified version were made in India where the tank was called Vijayanta .
The 1968 proposal for a vehicle specification that differed from the Mark 1 in the following respects:
Improved track, suitable for 56 km/h (35 mph) continuously.
Provision for fitting four Swingfire wire-controlled anti-tank missiles (intended as a response to weapons of greater range, such as the 120 mm L11 tank gun.
The Mk. 3 was introduced in 1975 for the export market. It was the last of the Vickers tanks to see sales in numbers abroad. In 1974, Vickers pressed on with development of a Mark 3 version. This stems from Design No. 51400 T and differs from the Mark 1 mainly in having a turret with a well-shaped cast front welded to a fabricated armour plate body. It also has a cast gun mantlet which is better shaped from the point of view of its resistance to armour-piercing projectiles than the flat mantlet of the Mark. 1. The Mark 3 embodies various other improvements, such as an increase in the depression of its main gun from -7 to -10 degrees below the horizontal and an increase in the ammunition from 44 to 50 rounds. The first production order for Mk. 3 tanks was placed in 1977 by the Government of Kenya
In 1977, Vickers produced a design for a vehicle that incorporated Chobham composite armour protection within a battle weight of 43 tonnes. This first prototype, designated the Vickers Main Battle Tank Mark 4.
Equipped with the Marksman turret, as well as a self-propelled 155mm howitzer with the GBT 155 turret. The GBT 155 was unveiled in 1982 and was armed with the same 155mm ordnance as the AS-90 . It was designed primarily for existing tank chassis.
Vickers Main Battle Tank Vickers Mk3 United Kingdom ~172
Reference text from Wikipedia contributors, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.
True scale
Sourced dimensions beside a 1.75 m human reference.
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Points represent sourced observations, including revisions. Revisions on the same effective date are not separate inventory events. Ranges appear in the table and are not plotted as exact points.
| Observation / report period | Value | Source | Claim state |
|---|---|---|---|
| 28 Sept 2026 | 4 people | Wikipedia contributors | superseded |
Vickers MBT equipment records. Variants, orders and quantities are shown as reported in each inventory source; coverage is incomplete.
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Main battle tank
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Kenya
Nigeria
Tanzania