These massive trucks were designed to carry the heavy tanks of the British Army. Most of the 125 Commanders used by the British Army were based in BAOR (BRITISH ARMY OF THE RHINE). The entered service in the early 80s where they were used to carry Chieftain, Challenger I and Challenger II until replaced by the Oshkosh system in the 2000.
The Scammell Commander heavy tank transporter had its origins in a British Army requirement that envisaged main battle tanks weighing well over 60 tones. It was originally developed to replace the old Thornycroft Antars tank transporters. Development of the Commander transporter began in 1976 but due to defense spending delays the production of a batch of 125 units for the British Army did not began until 1983. The British Army used it to tow Challenger 1 and Challenger 2 main battle tanks. Designed to tow loads up to 65 tones, the Commander tows a special semi-trailer onto which tanks can be tail-loaded using a hydraulic 20 tone capacity winch. In 1990 during the operation Desert Storm 70 Scammell Commander heavy tank transporters were used to transport 40 types of various military cargo. Each of the vehicles was on the road 17 hours a day during 4 months period. On average each vehicle traveled 270 km a day on the desert roads. Most of the 125 British Army Commanders were based in Belgium and Germany with only a few located in the United Kingdom. The Scammell Commander is now obsolete and was replaced by the American Oshkosh 1070F heavy equipment transporter.