Although the construction details of the Chobham Common armour remain a secret, it has been described as being composed of ceramic tiles encased within a metal matrix and bonded to a backing plate and several elastic layers.

To date, few Chobham armour-protected tanks have been defeated by enemy fire in combat ; the relevance of individual cases of lost tanks for determining the protective qualities of Chobham armour is difficult to ascertain as the extent to which such tanks are protected by ceramic modules is undisclosed.

These include the development of lightweight ceramic projectile proof armor for soldiers and also Chobham armor.

However, on 11 December 1974 a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Federal Republic of Germany and the US about the common future production of a main battle tank ; this made any application of Chobham armour dependent on the eventual choice for a tank type.

Fairoaks Airport is a private airfield located on the A319 between the villages of Chobham and Ottershaw in Surrey.

Situated between Virginia Water, Chertsey and Chobham, it consists of a number of houses spread out along Longcross Road ( the B386 ) and a few subsidiary roads.

At Chobham Common, Surrey, a video was shot for " Pipes of Peace ", depicting the famous 1914 Christmas truce between British, French and German troops.

* There are three Scheduled Ancient Monuments on Chobham Common: a Bronze Age Barrow, and two earthworks of unknown date and origin known as " Beegardens ".

Today, technologically advanced armies have implemented composite armors such as Chobham armor, which provide superior protection to steel.

It was determined by a study of a possible Chobham-armour protected MICV that a completely new design using only Chobham armour for the most vulnerable front and side sectors ( thus without an underlying steel main armour ) could be 10 % lighter for the same level of protection against KE-ammunition, but to limit costs it was decided to base the first design on the conventional Chieftain.

The French army in the late seventies rejected Chobham armour as being overly specialised in its optimisation to defeat hollow charge-weapons ; it therefore opted to develop a steel perforated armour system, comparable to that on the early Leopard 2.

They have been widely used against armour in the past and still have a role but are less effective against modern composite armour, such as Chobham or Kanchan, as used on main battle tanks today.

The most common type of composite armour today is Chobham armour, first developed and used by the British in the experimental FV 4211 tank, which was based on Chieftain tank components.

* Chobham armour

Chobham armour is a special type of composite armour used in military applications.

The turret and hull are protected with second generation Chobham armour ( also known as Dorchester ) the details of which are classified.

* Chobham armour

An American M1 Abrams of the pre-series, the first main battle tank type to be protected by Chobham armour

The British Army's Challenger 1 tank | Challenger 1 was the second main battle tank to use Chobham armour

Chobham armour is the name informally given to a composite armour developed in the 1960s at the British tank research centre on Chobham Common, Surrey, England.

This mechanism -- using the jet's own energy against it -- has caused the effects of Chobham to be compared to those of reactive armour.

Instead of rounded forms, the turrets of tanks using Chobham armour typically have a slab-sided appearance.

The armour configuration of the first western tanks using Chobham armour was optimised to defeat shaped charges as guided missiles were seen as the greatest threat.

Such modules are also used by tanks not equipped with Chobham armour.

In July 1973 an American delegation, in search of a new armour type for the XM815 tank prototype, now that the MBT-70 project had failed, visited Chobham Common to be informed about the British system, the development of which had then cost about ₤ 6, 000, 000 ; earlier information had already been divulged to the US in 1965 and 1968.

The latest version of Chobham armour is used on the Challenger 2 ( called Dorchester armour ), and ( though the composition most probably differs ) the M1 Abrams series of tanks, which according to official sources is currently protected by silicon carbide tiles.

In 1984, Surrey County Council produced the first management plan for Chobham Common which acknowledged invading scrub, fire and erosion as the main threats to the site.

Fires occurred fairly regularly during the 1950s and 1960s and the whole of Chobham Common was seriously damaged by major fires in the early and mid 1970s which caused the loss of the smooth snake ( Coronella austriaca ) and sand lizard from the site and allowed extensive areas of purple moor grass and bracken to establish.

Then surrounded by Chobham Common, which was heathland of little agricultural value, the village was a poor rural isolated community.

The most revolutionary aspect of the Challenger 1 design was its Chobham armour which gave protection far superior to any monolithic Rolled Homogeneous Armour ( RHA ), which was the then standard of tank armour material.

** the River Bourne, Addlestone which flows through Chobham and Addlestone

There are public footpaths and bridleways leading through the estate and onto Chobham Common, which extends to the east of the village.

Highlights the Chobham armour used in the Gulf War against Iraq and pays tribute to the Centurion tank which, during its 46 year career ( 1945 – 1991 ), proved to be one of the best British tanks ever produced.

Chobham was such an improvement that it was soon used on the new U. S. M1 Abrams main battle tank ( MBT ) as well.

In the United Kingdom application of Chobham armour was delayed by the failure of several advanced tank projects: first that of a joint German-British main battle tank ; then the purely British MBT-80 programme.

A first directive to prepare Chobham armour technology for application in 1975 was already given in 1969.

On 12 April 1983 the first British tank protected by Chobham armour was delivered to the Royal Hussars.

It is believed that, like other inland heaths, Chobham Common was created when early farmers cleared the primary woodland that once cloaked the country.

There is evidence that the area was occupied during the Neolithic period and the Bronze Age ; analysis of peat cores from areas with similar geology and patterns of settlement elsewhere in southern Britain would suggest the heathland on Chobham Common was created at some time during these periods.

Chobham Common was used by the military during the 1920s and 1930s, and throughout the Second World War, when it was severely damaged by tanks.

In 1871 Blumenthal represented Germany at the British manoeuvres at Chobham, and was given the command of the IV.

During mediaeval times, Chobham was part of the Chertsey Abbey estates.

Chobham is probably most famous for the tank factory that was once carved out of Chobham Common and created Chobham armour.