Tank armor has evolved since the very moment when armored vehicles first entered the battlefield. If today you take an armor-piercing projectile from the Second World War and shoot it at a modern tank, then most likely nothing will remain on its armor except a small dent. Modern composite armor can handle these impacts well. That is why, along with such armor, new types of ammunition appeared.
Sub-caliber ammunition for tanks.
Where the hammer fails, an awl should be used. This principle is fully implemented and disclosed by sub-caliber projectiles. As the name suggests, sub-caliber ammunition is much smaller than the caliber of the gun. The projectile looks like a "coil" corresponding to the diameter of the barrel, on which the "awl" of uranium or tungsten is installed. The coil is needed to provide ammunition with sufficient kinetic energy when exiting the gun barrel. After firing and exiting the barrel, the coil shatters into pieces, and only the tungsten tip flies at the target. Due to its high movement speed and lower resistivity, such an ammunition is extremely effective against armor.
Formidable weapon.
The core of a sub-caliber projectile weighs only 3.5-4 kilograms, which is very small for gun ammunition. Moreover, the speed of its movement after a shot can reach 1500 meters per second. When hitting the armor, the tungsten tip spends part of the kinetic energy to penetrate it, leaving only a small hole. After passing through the armor coating, part of the kinetic energy is transformed into thermal energy, the tungsten tip bursts. Under the influence of energy, it explodes at the exit to the armor-plated space, striking the crew of the combat vehicle with a rain of small fragments along a fan-shaped trajectory. In addition, sub-caliber ammunition provokes numerous fires inside the car.
This is what the modern model looks like.
One accurate hit by a BOPS (armor-piercing feathered subcaliber projectile) may be quite enough to destroy or seriously injure the entire crew, damage important components and assemblies of a combat vehicle, and detonate ammunition. But the most important advantage of the “shila” is that it is really unstoppable. Even modern active armor most often does not have time to adequately respond to the hit of a tungsten tip, thus turning out to be absolutely useless.
Very effective measures.
Promotional video:
