British soldiers fire on friendly Army tank during training blunder

British soldiers riding in a Warrior armoured fighting vehicle accidentally fired six rounds from its 30mm cannon at a Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank during a live-fire training drill at Castlemartin range in Pembrokeshire, Wales. Officials say the incident occurred during an intense exercise designed to simulate combat conditions, with the crews identifying targets through thermal imaging at a distance of about 1,640 feet (roughly 500 meters). The rounds were inert practice munitions, but the mistake triggered an emergency shoot before the situation could be corrected. No civilians or service personnel were injured, and the Challenger 2 was reportedly able to return to training soon after the incident, which occurred on private land with no public access.

The incident involved soldiers from The Royal Welsh regiment, who were training alongside the Royal Tank Regiment in preparation for a deployment to Estonia to bolster NATO’s eastern flank in light of ongoing tensions with Russia. Enhancing readiness for allied deterrence operations, the exercise at Castlemartin was part of a broader program to ensure crews can operate under realistic stress while maintaining strict safety standards. The MoD emphasized that all live-firing exercises adhere to the highest safety norms and that the rounds used in this drill were explicitly practice rounds designed to avoid armour-piercing or high-explosive effects.

The Warrior gunners reportedly conducted an emergency shoot after misidentifying the Challenger 2 as an opposing vehicle once it appeared in the line of fire through the thermal scope. Six rounds from the Warrior’s Rarden cannon were fired, and five struck the Challenger 2’s armour but bounced off, owing to the tank’s robust protection. Military officials described the incident as a blunder but noted that the rounds were inert and posed no danger beyond the shock of a near-miss. The MoD reiterated that there were no injuries and that the Challenger had already returned to training activities by the time reports emerged.

Col Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former British Army tank commander, commented to The Daily Mail that such misidentifications can occur even in well-trained units. He said, “In my 23 years as a tank commander I regularly had my tank shot up in training exercises. Warfare is a very dangerous business. People try to minimise the risks but this occasionally does happen. It’s not so bad when it’s small arms fire. But anything more than that and it’s a different ballgame.” He continued, noting the psychological and physical intensity of live-fire drills, adding: “The violence of a round going off near you is incredible, but the tank probably wouldn’t even have noticed when it was hit to be honest.”

The Ministry of Defence stressed that safety is an absolute priority and that an official investigation was launched immediately after the incident. The MoD said the episode occurred on private land with no public access and that no personnel or civilians were harmed. They also confirmed that the Challenger 2 had already resumed training and that the rounds used were practice rounds with no armour-piercing or high-explosive properties. The force emphasized accountability and safety compliance, noting that all live-firing exercises are conducted under stringent safety protocols and oversight.

The episode echoes a historical reminder of the risks inherent in armored warfare. In March 2003, two British tank crew soldiers were killed near Basra during fighting with Iraqi forces when their Challenger 2 was fired upon by a Canadian-based British tank in the same Army division. Corporal Stephen Allbutt, 35, of Stoke-on-Trent, and Trooper David Clarke, 19, of Littleworth, Staffordshire, died in the incident, with two other soldiers seriously injured and requiring surgery. The incident underscored how even well-practiced units can face catastrophic failures under the stress of real combat conditions, a lesson that continues to inform training safety measures today.

As the investigation proceeds, officials said the goal remains to ensure that training environments accurately mirror potential combat scenarios while never compromising the safety of service members. The event at Castlemartin will be reviewed to determine whether procedural adjustments, range layouts, or target identification protocols should be strengthened to prevent similar blue-on-blue incidents in the future. Although no injuries occurred in this case, the episode has drawn renewed attention to the continuous challenge of maintaining discipline and situational awareness during high-intensity exercises that combine live-fire elements with complex targeting data and multiple units operating in proximity.