The original design request made by the British War office In 1943 to the Department of Tank Design, was for a tank capable of with standing an 88mm round as used by the German forces at the time and had to weight 40-ton's as the transports used to deploy British tanks could not exceed this weight. The original Mk I was unable to with stand an 88mm round whilst below 40-tons, so the War Ministry on seeing that the Centurion was a superb design decided to replace its transports with heavier weight barring ones.

Known as the A41, the 1st prototype was completed in 1944 and 5 in total by 1945 which were sent to Germany but were to late in WW2 to see any combat.

It proved to be exceptionally up-gradable and through the years saw up-grades in fuel capacity and many in the armour & firepower of the vehicle and the Meteor V-12 petrol engine proved capable with the added weight.

The tank is run by a 4 man crew, the driver sits at the front of the all-welded steel hull on the right. The turret houses a number of external stowage boxes with re-supply hatch's. The crew layout is standard with the commander & gunner on the right and the loader on the left.

the commander and gunner have a number of sights and periscopes with an effective range of 8000m (1.86miles). During the 1960's, many of these as well as search lights were up-graded with Infa-Red by the British Army.

The power pack is at the rear of the vehicle behind a fire proof bulkhead.

The suspension is made up of 3 units along each side of road wheels (6 per-side) and protected by armour skirts, the first and last are fitted with shock absorbers.

The vehicle never had an NBC system fitted nor did it have amphibious capabilities, but a deep fording kit was developed as was a frontal dozer blade so it could dig in to firing positions. It's only weakness was its operational range, which the Mk5 tried to solve by providing a small trailer of fuel.
 

Production of the Centurion ended in 1962, by which stage 4423 had been manufactured by ROF Leeds, Vickers and Leylands, of which 2500 were exported. How ever most were replaced by former operators with German Leopard 1's.

Operators have included: Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, India, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Jordan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, & Switzerland. It was used by the British in the Gulf War (as AVRE), Falklands War (1 Beach Armoured Recovery Vehicle - Centurion hull) & Northern Island. By South Africa in the Angolan Civil War and Australia in the Vietnam War.

The Swedish Centurion Series AKA Strv

The Swedish Army purchased 240 Mk 3's & 110 Mk 10's from the British. They were subsequently modified for the Swedish Army under designation Stridsvagn, meaning tank in Swedish (AKA Strv).

The last Centurions used by the Swedish Army was the Stridsvagn 104. The 104 was an up-graded version of the Stridsvagn 102. It was fitted with a new diesel engine and transmission together with, among other items, an automatic gear-box. Its armed with a 105 mm main gun, 2 x 7.62 mm machine guns, two six-barrel smoke dischargers and two illumination round dischargers. The vehicle has a standard crew of four - commander, gunner and loader in the turret, plus the driver in the hull. It has an increased top road speed of 50 kph with an on-road & off-road range of 300km & 120 km, with a combat weight of 54 tonnes. The last class trained on the Centurion finished in 2000 on the island of Gotland. The tank is now only in mobilization forces across Sweden. The Swedish Army has now adopted the Leopard 2 S AKA Strv 122.

The South African Olifant

Developed and produced by Vickers OMC, formerly Reumech OMC of South Africa, development started in 1976 and the Mk 1 entered service with the SAAC in the late 70's. It had better suspension, turret drive, and night vision equipment. The commander had a hand held laser rangefinder.

The Mk 1A entered production in 1983 and entered service in 1985. The main gun was replaced with the 105mm L-7 rifled gun, eight smoke grenade dischargers was installed on either side of the turret. A new engine was installed and the armour was upgraded. The Laser rangefinder was incorporated into the gunner’s sight and the night vision equipment was upgraded.

The Mk 1B is a new production vehicle instead of up-grading existing Centurions. Development started on the Mk 1B in 1983 and entered production in 1991.

The 105mm L7 rifled cannon main gun on the Mark 1B is fitted with a thermal sleeve and carries 68 rounds of ammunition. The tank is also fitted with a 7.62 mm general purpose co-axial machine gun and a 7.62 mm anti-aircraft machine gun. The driver's station is equipped with a day and night sight and the gunner's station is fitted with day and night sights and an integrated laser rangefinder.

Due to the high number of mines deployed in neighbouring African countries, its belly armour was doubled and new side skirts added. The glacis plate and nose of the hull have been upgraded with the addition of passive armour and the turret has been fitted with stand-off armour. The vehicle can generate a smoke screen by injecting fuel on the engines hot exhaust and a fire suppression system was added to the crew fighting compartment.

It has a new V-12 air-cooled turbo diesel power pack, generating 900bhp and new torsion bar suspension. It has a top road speed of 58kp/h with an operational range of 350km and can ford water to a depth of 1.5 metres, negotiate gradients and slopes of 60% and vertical obstacles up to 1m.

A computerised fire control system was added and a search light over the main gun. In October 2003 Alvis OMC was awarded a contract for the upgrade of a number of Olifant Mk 1B MBT's. It includes up-grades in the power pack, fire control and training systems.

The Mk 2 is an up-armoured and fire control equipment turret which can be fitted with a 120mm smoothbore cannon on the Mk 1B chassis.

The Israeli Defence Force Sho't

Israel was due to purchase the new British Chieftain and whilst waiting for development to finish the IDF purchased second hand Mk3 & Mk5 Centurion's in 1958 and with the typical determination and skill, the IDF Ordnance Corps set to adapting them to their local requirements.

The engine was replaced with an American diesel engine AVDS-1790 and added a new automatic transmission so that their spares were compatible with other IDF adapted tanks like the American produced M4 Sherman's. This doubled their operational range. The biggest notable visual difference between a Sho't & Centurion is the raised rear deck above the engine on the Sho't.

The main cannon was up-graded to the L7 105mm and ERA was also added in the late 70's/early 80's, as was a fire-control system.

It went on to fight in the Yom Kippur War of 1973 and operation Peace For Galilee in southern Lebanon in 1982 and remained their until the IDF evacuation in 1985 and was used in active service in local conflicts well into the 1990's. The Centurion was also seen in the conflict of South Lebanon in 2006 as a turret less APC, but many are for sale from the IDF after the introduction of the successful IDF designed and manufactured Merkava MBT.

Nagma

The Nagma Sho’t was the first of the Sho’t converted APC’s. It was not as a successful due to the troops having to exit through the roof hatches.

Nagmachon

Nagmachon is a heavily armoured armoured personnel carrier fielded by the Israel Defence Forces. The Nagmachon evolved from the NagmaSho't APC, which in turn was based on Centurion Sho't hulls from the 1970s and 1980s. The vehicle carries thick belly armour designed to withstand mine-blasts and mountings on the front hull for various engineering devices such as mine plows, mine rollers and dozer blades. In addition to its belly armour and the relatively heavy armour of the Centurion hull, the Nagmachon also carries explosive reactive armour to counter HEAT rounds, such as rocket propelled grenades.

Early Nagmachons were equipped with three armoured shields to give soldiers firing the mounted FN general purpose machine guns some degree of protection from small arms fire. Later Nagmachons were fitted a distinctive raised superstructure, sometimes referred to as a 'doghouse'. The raised superstructure and increased mine protection have made the Nagmachon an ideal platform for counter-insurgency and urban operations, seeing much use in the al-Aqsa Intifada within the occupied territories and southern Lebanon in 2006. It is often used as an engineering vehicle and a carrier for sappers, although its main role has been to carry infantry.

Nakpadon

Nakpadon or Nikpadon is an Israeli heavy armored personal carrier (HAPC) based on the Centurion-derived[1] Nagmashot. It was introduced during the late 1990s and served in southern Lebanon before IDF withdrawal in 2000. Later, it served on the border between Israel and Lebanon.

A number of improvements were implemented over the Nagmashot including 3rd generation reactive armor, "EKE" side skirt design with rear skirts that can be either raised or lowered.Its main weapon consist of 4 FN MAG GPMGs with a 40mm grenade launcher.

Puma

The Puma (Hebrew: פומ"ה פורץ מכשולים הנדסי) is a heavily armored Combat Engineering Vehicle and armored personnel carrier that the Engineering Corps of the Israeli Defence Forces has used since the early 1990s. The vehicle can carry a crew of to eight. The 50-ton vehicle has a speed is 45 kilometers an hour.

The Puma uses the hull of the Sho't, which in itself is a modified British Centurion tank.

Some Pumas are equipped with the Carpet mine-clearing system. This consists of 20 rockets that the crew can fire singly or all together. The rockets contain a fuel air explosive warhead that spreads a cloud of fuel fumes that then detonates. The overpressure from the explosion detonates most mines. The Puma then advances behind a set of rollers that detonate any mines the fuel-air explosion did not get. There is also electronic equipment for detonating roadside bombs or jamming detonation signals.

Armament consists of three 7.62 mm FN MAG machine guns, including one in a remote turret that the crew can control from within the cabin by a Rafael Overhead Weapons Station (OWS). The vehicle also has a 60mm mortar and two launchers for smoke grenades.

Israel is forming a fourth Combat Engineer Battalion that will specialize in dealing with roadside bombs, mines and booby traps. As part of this effort, Israel will also upgrade its Pumas. The army is adding new equipment for dealing with roadside bombs and is training the crews to deal the growing numbers of explosive devices Hamas has been seen using in Gaza.

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