Britain refuses to manufacture tanks.

British weapons corporation BAE Systems has announced that minimize the production of Challenger 2 tanks in Newcastle, as well as closing weapons factories in Telforde and Shropshire. This is a Sunday newspaper says The Mail on Sunday.
The reason for this decision, the lack of defense orders from the government. The work could lose about 500 people, and the British military in the future will have to absorb the tanks from the German guns and the Swedish Chassis, warns edition.
Earlier, British Defense Minister John Hutton announced the need to "review the balance of investment in new technologies, weapons and human reserves" to the army to meet changing requirements. It recalls The Mail, reported on plans to strengthen the special forces and increase their numbers, but said nothing about the use of tanks in the future.
Meanwhile, military experts point out that in modern wars, the need for heavy tanks gradually descends to net.Na armed British army faces 250 Challenger 2 tanks. In 2003, 14 cars of this type of column defeated the Iraqi T-55 Soviet-made. Last week began the withdrawal of the last British tank units from Iraq.
The first tanks in the world, received a nickname "Big Willie" and "Little Willy", were built in Britain in 1915 and first used in World War I in the Battle of Somme in France in September 1916. The invention belongs to Ernst Suintonu, once removed grandfather actress tildes Suinton. In 1900, he covered events of the Anglo-Boer War as a war correspondent and realized the need for armored vehicles that could protect soldiers from machine guns. Winston Churchill, referring to the idea Suintona ordered to develop a prototype of the tank.