Britain Invented the Tank. The Factory That Built Its Last One Is Now a Housing Estate — and Challenger 3 Is What Rebuilding a Lost Industry Looks Like

Britain Invented the Tank. The Factory That Built Its Last One Is Now a Housing Estate — and Challenger 3 Is What Rebuilding a Lost Industry Looks Like

In 1916, an agricultural works in Lincoln built the first tanks in history and sent them to the Somme. In 2002, Britain delivered the last new tank it ever made, and the factory that built it was demolished for housing. That fact hides under every argument about the Challenger 3 and its 148 rebuilt tanks: the debate is always whether 148 is enough, almost never whether Britain could build number 149 if it wanted to.