00FC51

TANK COMBAT 120MM GUN CHIEFTAIN MK3

Confirmed Surviving MBT
Date in Service 01 Jan 1971
Colour Army/NATO Green
Last Known Location Private owner, United Kingdom
Last Confirmed 01 Aug 2025

Notes

Chieftain Mk3, built by Royal Ordnance Factory Leeds. FC prefix confirms manufacture 1971/72. Not in Merlin — registered as a Special Projects vehicle outside the main fleet. Also carried SP plate 03SP01, assigned at MVEE/FVRDE/DERA Chertsey, indicating use as a trials or research vehicle. Photographed at DERA Millom, Cumbria in February 1998 (source: tankmuseum.com Chieftain list, compiled from personal sightings and MoD disposal lists). DERA Millom was used for weapons and armour research, consistent with an SP-registered trials vehicle. Subsequently passed into private ownership. Confirmed running at Operation Market Harborough 2025 under SP plate designation 03SP01. Contact for further information: Joe Hewes (UK Chieftain owner/operator). Note: 05FA97 is separately recorded at DERA Chertsey with SP plate 03SP15, confirming the SP numbering series was used across multiple Chieftain trials vehicles at DERA.

Data source: Service history and last known location are sourced from the British Army Merlin Archive, the official vehicle inventory system covering records up to 2012 when the archive was declassified. Survival status has been assessed from the last recorded unit — vehicles may have changed hands, been restored, or been scrapped since then. If you have current information about this vehicle, please submit a correction.

Photographs

+ Submit a Photo

No photographs on record for this vehicle.

Be the first to submit a photo

Service History

Movement records from the British Army Merlin Archive

01 Jan 1971
Entered service — Special Projects registration, MVEE/FVRDE/DERA Chertsey (SP plate 03SP01) Receipt: 01 Jan 1971
01 Feb 1998
DERA MILLOM, Cumbria — confirmed by photograph February 1998 Receipt: 01 Feb 1998
01 Jan 2025
Private owner, UK — confirmed running at Operation Market Harborough 2025 as 03SP01 Receipt: 01 Jan 2025

Know something we don't?

If you have information about this vehicle's current status, location or condition that differs from what we show, please submit a correction.

Submit a Correction →