My bold - Utter bolleux!:ugh:

Classic case of journos doing what journos do best; take a few facts then make the rest up.

Seems someone has been reading the ARRSE thread discussing this possiblity, that came on the back of the USMC deployment and has then made the story out of whole cloth. :rolleyes:

Stealth blimp.

Chally??
 

Chally? Come on guys, that must be the naffest abbreviation yet. Surely we can do better than that.

Challenger (1 & 2) universally known as Chally in Bovington & its outstations.

About as "official" as Chinooks being Wokkas or Hercules being Alberts.

Some utterly bonk-ignorant comments on here.

1. Tanks are good for hearts and minds in a place like Afghanistan. They, like the Iraqis, do not respect behaviour of a pansy-like manner. Might is right etc etc. Bring up the Russians as often as you like, but try to remember that they experienced quite a different level of opposition as they simply killed anything that moved.

2. Challies have a sophisticated sensor array which would make it very handy bit of organic ISTAR for the troops.

3. The cannon is very accurate indeed (here's a clue : computerised ballistics), with HESH rounds costing a fraction of what Javelin or airborne bangs cost.

4. Chally hasn't been deployed on the grounds of cost and airbridge capacity / priority.

This isn't to say that they're infallible, since nothing is too big for an IED.

It's all moot anyway because we're pulling out soon. :hmm:

Chally!!
 

Roadster

I'll take your word for it. The names Challenger/Centurion/Conqueror were picked because they sound rugged. 'Chally' sounds more like someones genteel tennis partner than the ultimate piece of heavy metal.

Only marginally better than 'Wokka' which sounds like the sort of thing journalists dream up to show how much 'in the know' they are after they've been for a flight in a 'giant combat chopper!'

Chally vs...read it and weep tankies....or not ;)
 

Well, if you don't like Wokka, then there was always Chinny....
Along with Gimpy, ubrey (well, UBRE), 4 tonney, landy, rangy, milly, and for oldies, the Stolly!

Wokka
 

Hi Barnstormer

Funny thing about nicknames, some work because they just are so right, Gimpy, others don't because they just sound as thought they've been 'made up'. Its a personal thing I guess. Wokka and Chally just sound naff to me.

Milly and Stolly?? You've got me there

milly- 9mm pistol
stolly- Alvis Stalwart six wheel drive utility vehicle
:ok:

h

Call me an old Badger, but isn't a nickname a jocular, and often deprecating, name given to someone or something based upon its character traits or reputation. Surely in the examples above all we've done is add the letter "y" to the end instead of the original name ending.

Mr Picky

I thought 'Milly' was the nickname 'barny68' gave to a grenade? As in Mills bomb...:\

'Stolly', or rather 'Stoli' is surely Stolichnaya vodka ( Столичная )?

Stalwart - a most impressive beast! When 99 Entry RAFC went for a 5-day visit to BAOR, the Army gave us a trip in the back of one. It would go just about anywhere! There was a story that some grunt stole one to get home across the Channel, but his navigation wasn't very good and he ended up a few miles down the coast from where he'd set off...:uhoh:

I don't think the decision to send the Vulcan down to the South Atlantic was a last ditch attempt to avoid the chop. The V-Force had its Gold Clock by then already. The Tornado GR1 was already coming off the press and 9 sqn was already working up with the type at Honington. You can say what you like about John Nott's defence cuts blunder regarding the Navy, but the Tonkas were running off the production line and crews converting with quite some pace.:ok:

One interesting thought about the Challenger 2 though is; I thought Sir David Richardshad already determined that heavy armour, along with the R.A.Fs fast and noisy stuff were cold war anachronyisms? No longer relevant to all the wars we're expecting in the future which will all be just like fighting the Taliban?:}

FB:)

Two's in.
While I did choose nicknames that end in a 'Y' sound, these were only to fit in with the Chally theme. We could of course add: gat; willy peter; smudger; long or even humble 'tree beater' to milly and gimpy:)

But concentrating on the better value items of kit, do we still use 'dixies'?

Sorry for thread drift.

Don't forget "tilly".....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilly_(vehicle)

....although it is going back a bit...

Working safe in the knowledge that I don't give a giraffes crap what you think; the term Wokka has been around for years, decribes the sound - not the aircraft and doesn't end in Y.

If you mean the large containers for food used in field kitchens, yes we do.

How USMC operates MBT out there.

http://defensetech.org/2010/12/17/ma...oute-security/