Reference articles on history, science, culture and more
Surprise meSurprise meSubscribe
Encyclopedia

FV4202

Technology test bed

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
1 min read
Source updated February 6, 2025
Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

The Tank Medium No. 2 Experimental Vehicle FV4202 also known as the 40-ton Centurion was a technology test bed developed by British company Leyland Motors between 1955 and 1956. It was used to develop various concepts later used in the Chieftain main battle tank.

01History

The FV4202 was built by Leyland Motors as a research vehicle for the FVRDE to test the conceptual layout of the proposed FV4201 Chieftain main battle tank. Three vehicles were built between 1955 and 1956. The weight of FV4202 was nearer 42 tons as the cast turrets were usually too heavy due to the fact that the manufacturers of the turret castings were paid by weight rather than per item. One vehicle - an amalgam of two vehicles - is preserved at the Bovington Tank Museum and another one has been employed as a recovery training aid at SEME Bordon.

02Design

The FV4202 test bed was built from readily available Centurion parts, such as the suspensions, smoke grenade dischargers, armament, hatches, cupola, sights and turret drive. It featured a reclined driver position, allowing the use of a well-sloped glacis plate and the "mantletless" cast turret was built, with an internal gun mantlet.

Having a shorter hull than the Centurion, the FV4202 only had five road wheels per side. The FV4202 was also lower than the Centurion due to the use of 28 inch-diameter road wheels (31 inch for the Centurion). The tracks were a narrower variant of the ones used on the early Centurion marks.

The FV4202 is powered by the Rolls-Royce Meteorite V8 petrol engine which was, in essence, two-thirds of a V12 Rolls-Royce Meteor. The Meteorite has a 18.01 litre (1,099 cu in) capacity and deliver 520 bhp (393 kW) at 2,700 rpm. The engine was coupled to a Merritt-Brown V52 gearbox originally developed for the Vickers Medium Cruiser Tank Mk. I.

03Appearance in video games

The FV4202 appears in War Thunder, World of Tanks, World of Tanks Blitz, and World of Tanks: Modern Armor video games.

Watch videos about FV4202Explainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “FV4202”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

Images, from Wikimedia Commons:

Fathomly is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Spotted a problem? Tell us.

Continue exploring

Related topics

Chieftain (tank)

The FV4201 Chieftain was the primary main battle tank of the United Kingdom from the 1960s into the 1990s. Introduced in 1967, it was among the most heavily armed MBTs at the time, mounting a 120 mm Royal Ordnance L11 gun, equivalent to the much larger specialist heavy tanks in service.

Centurion (tank)

The FV4007 Centurion was the primary main battle tank of the British Army during the post-World War II period. Introduced in 1945, it is one of the most successful post-war tank designs, remaining in production into the 1960s, and seeing combat into the 1980s.

Conqueror (tank)

The FV 214 Conqueror, also known as Tank, Heavy No. 1, 120 mm gun, Conqueror was a British heavy tank of the post-World War II era.