Oman will receive the last 10 of the 38 Challenger-2 tanks it has ordered to replace the old Chieftains, all of which have now been retired. The Challenger-2s serve with the 1st Main Battle Tank Regiment. Oman ordered (in 1993) the first batch of 18 Challenger-2s along with four Challenger Armored Repair & Recovery Vehicles, two Challenger Drive Training Tanks, four Alvis Stormer command post vehicles, and nine tank transporters. In Nov 97, another batch of 20 Challenger-2s were ordered; the first 10 of these were delivered last May. The first 18 were phase-1 Challenger-2s; these have been brought up to phase-2, and all 20 of the new ones are phase-2. One of the differences is that the loader on a phase-2 version is provided with a 12.7mm machinegun.--Stephen V Cole