Cheeky British Armored Vehicle is Better Than You Think 

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The true secret to their success is that every Spartan tank has a BV (boiling vessel) so you always have hot tea where ever you go.

There is one huge advantage that makes it better than marder, puma or bradley for Ukraine. It is actually there.

I was British Army and these vehicles were tested in Germany whilst I was there. I particularly remember one day a driver of one of them advised he had been flagged down by the German civilian police and given a ticket for speeding. Previously our tanks, Chieftains, were limited to just over 30 mph and to have a new tank that could be ticketed for speeding at closer to 60 mph was a great novelty. The driver was treated to beer all evening!

One minor correction: It´s a british tank so it used aluminium alloy armour, not an aluminum alloy armor!😜

There is up side that isn't really mentioned. Its small af. You're driving down the road, you pass a van, boom surprise! Whole ass British Armour was parked behind it! That bush? British Armour. That rock? British Armour. Your Mother? Nah, British Armour. Really good for ambushes or sneaky pushes. Perfect for recon, and interception. Such as intercepting supply lines.

Fun fact - this tank used to finish its test run back to the factory on the road past my primary school. Funny to see the lollipop lady stopping a tank for you to cross the road! And the Alvis factory that used to build them in Coventry is now a Morrisons supermarket...

I have a childhood memory of being in the ancient family car, thrashing its lungs out at 50mph down the motorway and having a fleet of those just come sailing past us in the outside lane. It left an impression.

I wasa CVR(t) Scorpion instructor in my cavalry squadron. 76mm cannon mounted on this chaise. Excellent vehicle, very fast, great cross country capability. And the 76 cannon was magnificent. About to retire now after 33 years service. Wouldn't have swapped my career for the world. I hop o helped people along the way. That's why I became a soldier, to help people.

I served on Spartan in Iraq. It's fucking awesome chaps, believe no bollocks. 50 mph off road no probs. Best RECCE vehicle ever. Dogshit electronics but easily upgradeable

I was a driver of the spartan during the cold war. We used it as our 3-man air defence unit. Basically on our own, we could very quickly hide the vehicle and deploy our Javelin missiles...and just as quickly disappear. The most important piece of equipment in the cvrt is the BV...no squaddie will do anything without tea :)

My dad was an inspector at Alvis in Coventry and worked on the prototype for this tank.. Later my brother and sister worked there too.. It's great to see this little tank has proven to be so useful..

CVRT series - Scorpion with a 76mm gun, Scimitar with a 30mm quick firing gun, Samaritan was the Ambulance, Spartan was infantry carrier, Samson was the REME vehicle, Sabre was a later variation which took the turret from the Fox wheeled recce vehicle and put it onto the Scorpion body - L21 Rarden 30mm cannon, Sultan was the Command and Control vehicle.

I was the gunner in a scimitar for 6 years, great vehicle, will literally go anywhere, and up anything, its not designed to get into a fight, it's for long range reconnaissance, the gun is there as a last resort, if you are in a fire fight behind enemy lines you have failed. The vehicles are used to get to a point behind the lines, then you dismount and close target recy on foot, bring in airstrikes , steal info from the enemy ect. The armour only protects you from small arms fire. One of the great things about his vehicle is you can you through a forested between trees nice and quite, the enemy will be watching the roads but you can use the dead ground in a forested to slip through the lines, the vehicle is about the same size as a land rover. Took some American marines out in one in the desert, they were used to their lav 25's, dont think they like it much, too small for them 😁

The best thing about the FV103 Spartan is that it's road legal in the UK. You can drive it to Tesco if your heart so desires We aren't allowed blades longer than 3 inches but we are allowed this.

The fact the vehicle is small, quick, has really good range, and can carry a couple of infantry plus a stack of anti-tank weapons, makes it an ideal hit and run vehicle. It should be really effective for setting up ambushes and then getting out of the area. I think it would be extremely effective when deployed by smart, motivated troops.

It's unbelievable tha the UK are retiring the CVR(T). The Class has unique capabilities, and with a bit of thoughtful evolution could provide another 40 odd years of useful service. And BTW, we didn't pull out of Hong Kong until 1997!

Fun fact: They can be transported inside ISO intermodal containers, and by anything that can carry those. So they can take full advantage of civilian infrastructure, and don't require specialist tank transporter vehicles which in turn require specially trained and licensed drivers, which gives them an insane level of operational mobility.

The Spanish Marines had a full company of Scorpions, 17 vehicles in total, until 2009. It was a real show to see those tiny tanks maneuvering out of the the landing crafts at 50 kmph. They were also a perfect fit for providing an extra punch to an amphibious light force

8:06 I would just like to add that we also sent the Stormer which fires the Starstreak ground to air missile. A bit larger than a 7.62

As an example of the extremely low ground pressure (one third of a man), one commander in the Falklands (they were light enough to easily get on shore during the hostilities), jumped down from his vehicle and sank up to his knees in the bog that the scimitar was comfortably standing on top of.

Was overtaken by one on the Autobahn near Fürth in Bavaria in the early 1980s.. I was respecting the speed limit, they were not.

Brilliant vehicles: quiet, fast, reliable, flexible and ideal for ‘sneaking around the battlefield’. Having infantry ride on the top leaves internal space for kit, rations, ammo, fuel etc. As long as the UKR only use them as battle taxis they will be ok.

I served for 6 years in the early 80's in a recce regiment, using all the variants. The wagons are governed down to protect the engine, and far more speed capable if you blow the governers. Our training taught us the main weapons was a last resort I.E. our role was to creep in (tracks have rubber pads on them) unseen and unheard and report back what the enemy is doing, then get out without a contact. Kitted out to enable remote recce off the vehicle E.G. big drums of wire mounted onto the side of the turret to enable a secure comms away from the vehicle closer to the enemy. Drivers (that was me) all trained to repair the wagon and assist the REME (mechanics). We were so familiar with them, I prepared the engine to be lifted out the vehicle in the middle of a forest at night without any lights (British Army does not use white light at night) after 36 hrs without sleep. Because the PSI on the tracks is so light, it is capable of traversing through swampy ground and traverse through forest due to it being so narrow. Has good (for the time) night sites and nuclear and biological capabilities I.E. a filtration system that kept the pressure inside the vehicle higher then the atmosphere outside. A toilet under the gunners seat for when locked down (a bucket) and a boiling vessel (BV) for hot drinks and cooking food E.G. dent the compo tin and throw it in the BV for 10 minutes. Speed was considered our best defence as alloy armour ain't much good against any anti armour rounds. If conflict happened with Russia in the 80's, it was considered we had two minutes to bug out after reporting a contact on the radio, as the Russians were considered to be experts at triangulation, thus when located in an OP, consideration of a quick vehicle exit from the OP was vital. If you threw a track, the gunner and driver could easaly break the track and remake onto the sprockets. The gunner and driver were multi trained to perform both roles.

Worked as military contractor during most of the 1990’s, including a base, where the Spartan was main part of an Air Defence Regiment, with the Javelin as a vehicle mounted SAM, I believe. The fact that it remained in service for over 30 years is testament to its versatility.

The 30mm Rarden is a vicious cannon. I saw about five rounds put into something about the size of a dinner plate at about 1800m in a firepower demonstration. It's like the finger of God. It just pokes with horrific velocity.

I was stationed at RAF St. Mawgan with the US Marines...I got the pleasure to become a spartan driver, ( we used them on our reaction force) ,(QRF for you youngins) ...Man, was that thing fast, and quick on its feet! I hope one day to own one! An excellent vehicle! 7 foreward gears, 7 reverse gears and yes, you can catch air in one! Shorter stopping distance than most high performance cars!......WHAT A MACHINE!!!!!

Another interesting fact about it's light footprint is that it pushed such low poundage per square inch that it could actually run over your foot and not break your toes, it probably wouldn't even split your boot.

My first sight of these was a pair passing our trenches at great speed on Salisbury Plain. Long time ago but my (probably exaggerated) recollection was that they were in the air as much as on the ground and one executed a sharp left hand turn without reducing speed. So impressive.

My Brother was in the Armoured recon, and its key to note that the idea of being hit by a killing blow is a non issue. Because if you're hit you're dead, thus it doesn't matter. But the CVRTs are able to move over absurdly poor terrain, as they weigh fuck all (gives side eyes to Ajax) as far as armour goes. it can hit hard relatively speaking, and When blundering into tanks, they don't shoot you because if they are smart they know that you are reccie, and theirs bigger things to consider, shooting them is a waste of time and ammo. CVRTs are excellent, Ajax doesn't really work in the role. and in many ways in that role they will be missed.

I was told by an ex squaddie that in the 80s the most fun you could have in the british army was in a scorpion doing 50mph on manoeuvres through rough ground in germany.

Loved crewing these. First mechanics lesson I received was how to take the fuse out of the speed limiter. The result is a lot more than 65 mph. My dad was driving in the autobahn in 1975 and a scimitar overtook him. More importantly, these things go ANYWHERE. The bit about low ground pressure is true.

I’ve driven one of these with the 9th/12th Royal Lancers. Can confirm the boiler inside is beloved by the troopers.

Spartan reccy vehicles have a solid reputation amongst my UK Army friends.

Same sentiment I have for the M113... "Better than walking." And aren't they just the most adorable looking little killing machines 🥰

They are not a tank - the hint is in the name Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance. At that they are superb. Fast, small, easy to conceal, and brilliant for setting up a quick recce screen. I was 2 1/c of a Squadron, and my Sultan Command vehicle was excellent. Never broke down with good driving (watch the jerk on the crankshaft on range change for 3-4), and difficult to get stuck. Yes you can get 2 in a container, and one under a Chinook! As for ammunition storage in the Scimitar. The point was that the gun was not really designed for fast auto fire. It was a mini tank gun firing 30mm HE (Common shell), A small APDS round and APSE (described as shot on the fire order). This was optimised to take on the face hardened armour of the BTRs, and kill the crew. There was no need to go blasting 30 rounds at a BTR - if one knows how APSE worked, one round was lethal. The round was not designed to penetrate in the conventional sense, nor was the filling explosive. Would a Scimitar knock out a tank - depends. I gather the only Challenger to be knocked out in Iraq 1 was in a friendly fire incident where a Scimitar of the recce regiment shot a CR up the jacksie. The round penetrated , destroyed the gearbox and stopped the tank. Fortunately the error was realised and the Scimitar didn't open up on the crew with the co-ax, which would be the normal procedure.

The CVRT in a nut shell is designed to move the crew commander around the field at speed and difficult terrain (it’s tracked). To provide a small amount of protection for the crew commander (it’s armoured). To bite back In self defence (30 mil cannon and coax 7.62). It does these things so it’s most important cargo, the commander can give Timely and accurate intelligence to influence the battle space and if he needs to hit the enemy as a forward observer whilst calling artillery on to target.

The Scimitar version armed with the 30mm cannon was described in the British army as “the formula 1 sewing machine”

I was part of the CVRT conversion team when i served , the old Jag engines where swapped out for Cummins diesel's as part of the single fuel program ,which is what you see at 4:09 painted white .

My father served on the cvrt family of vehicles and I have been lucky to help maintain some in a museum. Everybody I encounter is a fan of their specific model and is still proud of having served on them. They seem to be an excellent fit for fast light infantry deployments. Although they are engaged in battle a little further east then expected they seem to excell at doing what they were meant to do.

In Afghan we used our Scimitars in a dual role. We provided Reconnaissance screens for the battle group, and we would also provide close in fire support for the infantry. They managed well despite their age but after 6 month the wagons were very tired. I went through 3 Torsion Bars, One Gearbox and by the end the hull was cracked. But they are fast rugged and easy to maintain for the most part.

Commanded a troop of these wagons and I can assure you that they are excellent. Our deployment was two Scorpions and two Scimitars used in the recce role. They were quite and fast with a good combination of firepower.

The Spartan was designed to go fast through wet open fields and small villages in Eastern Europe. As such, it was perfect for the Kharkiv Oblast. It would also be perfect for the Kherson operation. The UK deemed it unlikely that a war would break out in Eastern Europe, after the Cold War ended, so it started to put this vehicle on the back burner and a lot of them are mothballed down the road from where I live, and indeed right next to where I used to work. I would bet that the UK was pleased to be rid of them. They are really simple vehicles, easy to maintain, use little fuel and can be quite intimidating if you are in a trench and one of these is hurtling towards you and you do not have an RPG. Big tanks are pretty useless in those big open fields, especially in wet weather. So, if the USA is thinking of sending Abrams tanks, think again. Send light vehicles like the Bradleys, and longer range howitzers and missile systems. This war would be over already if the West would just send the right kit. But, I suspect the UK and USA want to see Russia's army totally destroyed, Russia humiliated, and its Air Force shot out of the skies. No need to ask/negotiate for Russia to demilitarise if Ukraine can do it by force, which is what is happening. It is certainly making China think again about Taiwan.

I was heading north from BMH Hanover in a land rover back in 74. We were travelling flat out (about 60 plus miles an hour and we were passed like we were standing still by a pair of Cavalry Scorpions from one of the tank regiments. They were travelling on the autobahn at around 80 miles an hour, it was unusual to see armour (even that light) travelling so fast and so has stuck in my memory since then. These were the straight six Daimler engine variant before the "upgrade" to diesel.

The ‘spartan’ has a crew of 2 (driver and commander) the third hatch is the team commander who deploys with the four man dismounted team (ie-5 man team). The thing you need to understand about this initial series of vehicles is that they are ‘recon’ vehicles. They have fire power, but ideally they shouldn’t be using it. If they do something went wrong. My main point is the Spartan is ‘not’ an armoured personnel carrier. We had FV432 and later Warrior for that purpose. Other versions were developed like striker and a mortar version, but these were later support variants for infantry and artillery support as well as other variants that we Brits are great at inventing (eg - ww2 funnies etc)

These are solid vehicles the platform is tried and tested but old. I was crew on one for the best part of 8 years I loved my "little tank". It never failed me. Let's hope thet the Ukraines put them to good use

I don't see how Ukraine could conduct airborne operations with this vehicle, but it's lightweight design is actually going to be very useful. The rainy season is around the corner, and there are a number of rivers and damaged bridges Ukraine will need to cross. This vehicle should do nicely for that, and it could be of great benefit the Ukrainian infantry as they drive the orcs back to Mordor. Not really the reason why it was designed that way, but it should do nicely.

I used the Samson recovery variant in the Falklands (post hostilities) and it was a joy to drive. Could get it just about anywhere.

I drove Striker, a Swingfire armed CVR(T). Drove one for almost for 5 years. CVR(T) was perfect back in the day and is still extremely useful even on today's battlefield.

We had Scorpians in the New Zealand Army ,Great for there designated role,and think they had 6 gears forward and 6 in reverse and can do max speed in both with the modified 4.2 Jaguar 6 ie E type,XJS motor ,these little tanks are super fast and have a special feature of a boiling water system so you can have a hot cuppa anywhere the tank is providing the tankers will share their hot water

Interesting. Visited a North Yorkshire museum this week , one of their privately owned Spartans had just been shipped out to Ukraine. They've still got another three.

WHOO! LIGHT CAV TANKS! This vehicle is IDEAL for the conflict. And it makes sense to not send the 30mm variant, the scimitar. With that, you need the ammo, which they won't always necessarily have. But with the troop transport, you can just lob a few more dudes on top with nlaws or panzerfaust 3s or javs, and do the same work.

Just as in military aircraft, so is it true in maneuver warfare…Speed is Life. I would choose the speed demon that doesn’t get bogged down and stuck virtually every time.

I always liked seeing these and the German Wiesel rip through the fields in (west) Germany. They both had similar tasks and only the speed of the British version was much better. When it comes to maintenance the Wiesel was easier to maintain and they had a TOW on top. The Wiesel 2 is even better but also heavier than the original.

The amazing aspect of the Ukrainian army is that they use constant innovation to adapt their tactics to the equipment available to them. They have been provided with a vast array of vehicles and equipment in addition to their 'native' resources but seem to familiarise themselves really quickly to what is available to them. No mean task for any army especially considering that the support logistics for such an array becomes very complicated , very quickly. I have no doubt that many military strategists are studying this war in awe of Ukranian tactics and strategy. I certainly am.

I was in the REME in 1985 and worked on this as a young solder. Bloody awesome vehicle that was so much fun to drive over cross country. They had a J60 (jaguar) petrol engine with optronic ignition, which was sexy as fk back then. Great vehicle - does exactly what it was intended to do. Get in, reconnoitre, get out quickly.

I was a Recce driver in a Spartan and I loved it. It was a great bit of kit. There was mostly just two of us so space wasn’t an issue and it was so quiet on approach in high gear low revs. Also, it was as fast in reverse as it was forward which I only really needed once but when I did it was spectacular. With a good driver/commander combo these wagons were amazing

Fun fact: James Blunt served in one of these when he was in the military

The CVRT chassis is one of the best things we ever made

I was a Spartan Operator in the British Army. Great fun wee thing, when it worked... :D Steering pneumatics failed once when I was hoofing it along a road at 45mph... that was fun.

The CVRTs you would be surprised to learn were also supplied to the Rockapes of the RAF Regiment, utilising them to take any enemy airfield. Always used to go down great guns on the airshow circuit as you've shown, when chucked out of the back of a Herkybird!

I have some friends that are in a milsim group and they actually have one of these bad boys suited up for airsoft, dummy rounds and mounted lmgs. It was terrifying when I played against them

Love CVRT’s cheap, fit inside a standard car garage and road legal. Plus loads of options shame they didn’t keep developing it and a shame the British army didn’t order the fv108 streaker after the Falklands or the later stormer versions I believe they only got 2 or 3 versions of the stormer’s

When i was a sprog out of basics the first course i did was CVRT driver(on Spartan) then gunner (when i was on Scorpion) Nothing but good memories and outstanding off road if you respected their limitations. Remember putting pies on the exhaust manifold to get them piping hot

CVRTs are a superb rapid little bus to get you about fast or get you out of there fast !! Great air defence vehicle if fitted with HVM too. I was actually on MBT in the British Army - Chieftian (Berlin) Challenger 1 (Ist Gulf war) Was always great seeing these zipping about in support of MBT battle groups.

4:41 Little did we know airtransport isnt possible anymore, but since it lightweight we could probly make an artillery capeable of shooting the damn thing behind enemy lines xD

CVRT's have also been sold to civilians domestically here in the UK. And for what you get they are at a good price of around low to mid tens of thousands. Sadly the weapons don't come with any ammo and have been disabled but hey you get a tank that is road legal to drive around in.

the fact that theyre small is size makes them very effective to move through harder grounds, these things can hop between the trees well and can use lots of new weapons systems mounted on top for hit and run style.

Brilliant platform. Spent six years on the Scorpion CVRT in the eighties. If employed correctly will be of huge benefit to Recce troop units and long range recce armoured units. Excellent 76mm gun and COAX Gimpy. Jobs a good un!

I think the gasoline engine has been replaced by a 6 cylinder Cummins diesel of 5.9 liter displacement. It has 2 valves per cylinder and 190 HP.

Thanks for another great video

Great video, extra credit for using cheeky in the correct context as well! No idea this vehicle existed, but British down to a tee. Not specified for anything, but useful for everything. Sometimes simplicity is best!

Fantastic speedy little tank. It goes as fast in reverse as forward so it can get out of trouble easily which is very important for a Recce tank. If it broke down, it was often just the spark plugs that needed changing.

Before i was detached for other duties i was a CVRT scimitar cmdr .....loved the gun.....loved the tank....loved it all !!

I remember being overtaken by one on the main road outside of Salisbury going north. It shot off ahead and then turned right into a field and never looked like it was slowing down. Lads on board clearly had a brew on somewhere!

The whole point of the scorpion was to not engage with the enemy. All infantry recce units in BAOR were issued these. They were fast, quiet and small, ideal for recce, the RARDEN cannon was used in emergency situations to get it out trouble if spotted by the enemy, it was a very capable recce vehicle, and when manned by an experienced crew could gather into in enemy positions and movement without being seen.

"... Chew through the ammo in a couple of minutes on a good day" - if you're chewing through ammo, you may in fact be having a bad day.

I served on those CVR(T) for 15 years in the 9/12th royal lancers.

After 2 and a half years at Suffield in Canada was posted to Ludgershall in Wiltshire, as a vehicle specialist if it had tracks we drove them. From Chieftains to Centurion ARV`s and all sorts in between, but to get into a Scorpion or a Scimitar was even better. We used to take them out for exercise to ensure they were fit for purpose on a route that took us through Tidworth and then back to Ludgershall. Prior to that we would take the basic vehicle down to Warminster for them to have the weapons fitted, they would then come back either as a Scimitar or a Scorpion, truth be known the would go faster than 50 mph but you could not go above 6000 rpm . My time in the military goes back to the early to mid seventies and I enjoyed my time another favourite of mine was the FV433 Abbot self propelled gun, Happy days.

I used to drive scimitar (the one with the 30mm) when I was younger, so a couple of observations on your comments. 1. Idle, in the British army these were mainly meant for reconnaissance (eg. target acquisition for the Challenger etc), you drove fast to your next OP, and then pretty much switched your engine off & camouflaged, not to save fuel but to decrease your thermal signature. 2. Armour, we were often told the Alloy was not that great, eg. AK at 10m could penetrate, so it was mainly placebo, but then you were not meant to be seen.. :) 3. As another poster mentions, you totally forget to mention the BV for making that most important cup of tea.. :) 4. Even though that 30mm was meant for defence, it really did pack a punch. Even using practise rounds in Wales I remember it ripping a Chieftain tank to bits, can only imagine what HEI or better Sabot (APDS) rounds would have done to it.

I believe the driver controls were designed to match those of the Chieftain tank, the U.K. MBT at the time. So the gear change, steering etc were the same controls, meaning drivers could more easily transition between vehicles

Their small size and weight also means they can cross small bridges that may not have been taken out like the main river crossings. They fit on narrow country roads and between trees in forested terrain and are great in tight urban areas such as the small villages of Ukraine. Slava Ukraine 🇬🇧🇺🇦💪🏼

Absolutely loved my time working on CVR(T). Worked on almost all variants and crewed a Samson.

Properly I’m bias, after went from Main battle tanks, we had the jaguar driven CRT, then diesel one. So many memories. But truly a great vehicle

We used the Scorpion tank in our army for years. In the jungle and counterinsurgency they had no equals for light infantry support. We have never used them in a conventional conflict, though. I believe our general staff is looking into the lessons of the Russo-Ukrainan War. Among other things, they are probably looking at how these Spartans are being used.

I was trained on the Scimitar when I was with the Queen's Own Yeomanry. Our version had the full optical package and Life Extension Programme upgrade and it was brilliant! My gunnery skills were better at night with their BGTI system! Excellent bit of kit, though obsolete in this day and age, it's probably perfect against Soviet era Russian armour.

I worked on these little speed freaks (REME), quite good bits of kit and easy to work on, but the Jag engine was change for a 5.7 Cummins diesel, not sure if they done them all as I left the Army when the first ones were done. Nice videos keep up the good work Chris.

Having worked at the Alvis in the 90's I did some R&O on these as well as working on the production of the Stormer HVM (starstreak). One thing I will say is they all are a total pig to work on and even repair. Very tight space. One big flaw was the hand break - Its not like a hand break in a car as its like a ratchet where you pull it back and forth 3-4 times to engage and push fully forward to release. Well, they kept snapping loose and rolling - it took out the toilet block at the test track in Baginton once.

I own one of these, well the CVR(T) FV101 Scorpion. It's nice because most of my property is marshland, and I can easily traverse it with my CVRT light tank and it doesn't get stuck. My HMMWV and Czech OT-64 on the other hand can't really get far into it especially during the wet season.

Funny enough as to your joke about rich brits buying these for their kids, it’s entirely possible and not insane. There’s a decent number that are privately owned and a surplused one will run you about £30k. They’re quite popular because they bring all the clout of owning a tank without the insane fuel prices of owning one

30mm was wonderful to shoot, 76mm was fun, rocking backwards, then forwards just in time to see fall of shot [but very noxious in the turret]. I was mainly on the Striker, flying 49 Swingfire, no fire and forget, you had to guide it it the whole way [up to 4km]. Happy days!

I was a paratrooper in the RAF Regiment in the 80's. The 4 field Squadrons were equipped with the Alvis range of CVRT..Spartan, Scorpion, Sultan, (CP), Samaritan, (Medical) and Samson, (Recovery/repair). The extended Hercules aircraft could carry 2 cvrt and their crews, although it was a bit cramped! Allegedly the ali/mag armour was able to absorb and deflect AP rounds. Erm, I didn't believe that at all and hoped it would only be small arms I would encounter. They were indeed fast. I remember taking out a set of landing lights at RAF Hullavington, (2 and 15 Squadron), on a test drive in the rain where I spun it in the rain. They were somewhat prone to tipping over, sideways as a support crew found out after hitting a milk float, the driver was ok, (Spartan crew suffered battery acid burns and were hospitalised), but the milk got wasted on a trip to Everleigh, Salisbury Plain where we were dropped, at night, into a recently ploughed field. It was frosty and the landing was painful..not me but there were four broken bones on that jump. On the CVRT training course one of the drills is driving over 'The Knife edge'. That's pretty scary the first time as it's 45 degrees and you have to teeter at the top. When you drop it goes past 45 degrees! One thing that impressed me was the canister round, basically a 76mm shotgun round with hundreds of stainless steel rods which could be fired at another tank if it was being overrun by enemy. One round would obliterate them leaving the CVRT ok, however the optics would suffer. The night vision capabilities were really good and had full 360 degree vision from the main port. This meant you had to manually scan by rotating the cupola. We had full NBC protection, (Allegedly). The filters were mounted on the starbourd side. On an exercise in Germany, "Lionheart", I was on stag. The other crews were dug in, in depth. I fancied a cuppa and as we were on silent, couldn't run the engine, (the BV saps too much from the batteries), so got my gas stove out and it wouldn't light properly. My head was feeling really groggy and nauseous. I opened the rear door and heard a slight 'woosh'. The stove worked fine thereafter. That worried me, big time those NBC seals seem to work fine-one way! They were also prone to overheating as the engines had to rev hard, especially in the lower of the 6 gears. Many head gaskets were blown on the travels. In the end they were transported to the exercise to reduce mechanical faults. The cupola mounted GPMG, 7.62mm derivative, basically a GPMG with the stock removed, was ok but the beaten zone was horrendous. It bounced around like crazy and reloading was a right faff! That was on the Spartan. The RAF Regiment adapted a Scorpion where they put modified camshafts, carburetors, (triple SU's), geared it up and removed the silencer. They drove it down the runway at Greenham Common, Berkshire. It was clocked at 95mph. The British Army refused to accept it as it hadn't gone through their system. Politics, even for combatants. 😆 I still have the detailed pics somewhere of that Scorp. Btw, they do throw tracks and they bottom out on the big boys tracks. We used to dig ourselves out of Chieftain and Challenger tracks regularly. They only have about a foot of ground clearance, although they definitely don't sink anyway near a main battle tank. Sand seems to get tracks off pretty quickly in neutral turns..I would check my tracks twice a day so I knew they were correctly tensioned. At least we could re-track ourselves and didn't require the R.E.M.E to come out to put back on a Challenger track that weighed the same as our CVRT! Hope this helps folks.

That is a cool little vehical. Anything armored, light, fast, and reliable is always awsome.

When in West Berlin from 1981 to 1984 I observed British Scorpions and Chieftains, NATO's smallest and largest tanks, on exercise and in parades. The British Army used a unique urban camouflage in West Berlin.

I used to drive CVR(T) in the RAF, both the 4.2 litre petrol and the 5.9 litre diesel versions. Really fun to drive on the public roads, until it starts raining. There’s no drain in the ‘cabin’, so once it fills up with water, for the next two weeks you’ll continue to get soaked by a bow wave every time you brake or go from 5th to 4th (high to low ratio on the sequential gearbox).

I was part of a recce plt, I crewed a Sabre in Bosnia in 95/96. Great little wagons.

FV 103 Spartan not only has a Luxury JAGUAR 4.3 Liter engine, it also has special military valves assemblies to burn poor quality fuel. The salvage metal value is a gold mine. The hull and turret were built out of an aluminum-zinc-magnesium alloy that is lighter and stronger than any aluminum frame in the world. This mini-tank is designed for speed and air transport ease.

Scimitar - It's an old vehicle but still effective - a very low ground pressure; 30mm Rarden cannon; fast. A great recce vehicle.

The old joke about being able to fix anything in the Army with green nylon string and black nasty ( duck tape) is actually based on a common field repair for these. The accelerator cable which ran along the floor would snap when sand got inside and wore through the steel wire. Drivers would remove a bolt from the bulkhead separating the drivers and engine compartments thread some green string through and the it to the lever on the injector pump and now you have a hand throttle.

I loved my CVR(T) reg number 02FD21 had it back in the mid 70s and it flew doing atleast 70mph, while on AMF(L) duties we took them into the artic circle and they performed great