MBT armour - active and passive. Cross-sections and descriptions.

[militarysta]

I would like to start a new topic about MBT -this time exclusive ONLY about tank armour.
It shoud help whit armour estimatous and will simplify the searching for informations.

First:
T-72M1

Turret armour:

As we can see- protection is circa 410-420mm RHA vs APFSDS and 500-520mm vs HEAT.

and here Meppen tests photos - as we can see kwarz "special armour" is mounted during casting by sevral rods - they are visible as damages in red circles on photo:

hull armour - here on PT-91 (so whit polish ERA ERAWA-2, orginally tehre is no ERA on T-72M1 hull)

For 90. cut-viev we have:

16mm HHS steel aditional external plate
60mm RHA
105mm STEF (glastextolite)
50mm RHA.

So for LOS (22 or 68. degree) we have:
42mm HHS + 160mm RHA + 280mm STEF + 146mm RHA
so protection is circa 460mm RHA vs APFSDS and circa 550mm vs HEAT

BTW: the same armour have indian T-72M1 Aleya.

BTW2: (STEF as 0.4 vs KE and 0.77 vs HEAT)

 

[militarysta]

Next -T-80UD (Ob.478B) hull armour from 1991.
First picture is taken from otvaga2000 forum and not included external HHS plate and gap for ERA, second is taken from south korean PzF-3IT presentation but values are mark by myself on base facotry draws (for some resons I can't post those draws here -sorry).

otvaga

South Korea PzF-3IT presentation

Hull (values for 0.)
66mm RHA
gap for ERA
135mm RHA
80mm ceramics
135mm HHS
gap whit some frame
80mm ceramics
135mm RHA.

for LOS whole layout is strong as:


T-80UD hull:
vs APFSDS: ~630-640mm RHA (plus ERA)
vs HEAT: ~730mm RHA (plus ERA)


T-80UD turret have diffrent layout - I can't post factory draw, but I can describe layout:

perpendicular to the surface:
98mm cast + 30mm air gap (and some frame) + 25mm SHS, + 40mm ceramics + 25mm SHS, + 40mm ceramics + 50mm RHA + 50mm HHS + 190mm cast

for LOS whole layout is strong as:
APFSDS: 480-490mm
HEAT: ~540mm

This is for LOS equal to 550mm but for 0. angle LOS is circa 700mm and whole numbers incarese a lot:

T-80UD turret for 0.
APFSDS: ~620mm
HEAT: ~700mm
plus ERAof course


ps. values taken as:
APFSDS/HEAT
HHS: 1.15 i 1.15
ceramics: 0.9 i 1.5
RHA: 1 i 1
cast: 0.9 i 0.9

 

[militarysta]

T-64B (Ob. 447A) hull and turret

T-64B turret so cast steel turret whit special armour consist of corund balls attatched in spatial grid structure -on this gird "cros-setions" they aremounted those corund balls, and whole "special armour" is melt by alumina or other light mettals:

Sucht layout shoud achive protection as 360-450mm RHA vs APFSDS and 550mm vs HEAT, but on A. tarasenko webpage there are given values 420-450mm RHA vs APFSDS.

BTW: turret LOS thickness for all 3 soviet tanks in first half of the 1980s where simmilar:
T-72A: 470-530mm
T-64B: 470-630mm
T-80B: 530-600mm? (muszę pomierzyć)


and T-64B hull:

(STEF as 0.4 vs HE and 0.77 vs HEAT)

vs APDSDS
~430mm RHA (up to 440mm)

vs HEAT
~ 510mm RHA
+ERA of course

diffrent real photos of the same armour hull T-64B and BW layout:
so: 60mm RHA + 35mm STEF + 30mm RHA + 35mm STEF + 45mm RHA.

 

[militarysta]

T-80U (1986) turret armour:

hull:
(draw made by Wiedzmin from otvaga2000)

T-80U:
25mm +gap for ERA + 50mm RHA + 35mm STEF +50mm HHS +35mm STEF +50mm RHA

for 68. degree LOS
66mm + gap for ERA+ 133mm RHA + 93mm STEF + 133mm HHS + 93mm STEF + 133mm RHA

So protection (without ERA):
vs KE: 66mm+ 133mm + 37mm + 146mm + 37mm + 133mm = 550mm vs APFSDS
vs CE: 66mm+ 133mm + 71mm + 146mm + 71mm + 133mm = 620mm vs HEAT (SC)
And turret shoud have simmilar protection for 0.

Of course valus abouve are without ERA armour. Accoding to NII Stali data Kontakt-5 in new version from T-72B model 1989 give adtitional avarage protection as:
+120mm RHA against APFSDS like M829
+500-600mm RHA agianst RPG and ATGMS.

If we added sucht values whe have protection circa 670mm vs KE and circa 1120-1220mm vs HEAT -what is very huge number...

 

[militarysta]

T-80B turret and hull armour

agian - great job made by Wiedzmin from otvaga forum:

hull:
90.
50mm RHA + 35mm STEF +50mm RHA +35mm STEF +50mm RHA

for 68. angle (LOS):
133mm RHA + 93mm STEF + 133mm RHA + 93mm STEF + 133mm RHA

so T-80B hull protection is:
vs APFSDS: ~470mm RHA
vs HEAT: ~540mm RHA (plus Kontakt-1)



Turret:

turret for 30.:
191mm cast + 122mm "kwarz" + 218mm cast so:
~370mm RHA + 122mm kwarz "insert"

And per analogy to the T-72M1 turret protection and it "sand bars" or rather "kwarz insert" we can describe that kwarz "insert" is like:
0,38 vs KE and 1.07 vs CE -so nice values, but kwarz weight a lot.
So for 30. T-72B turret have protection like:
316mm vs APFSDS
500mm vs HEAT

but for 0. degree we have:
137-237mm cast + circa 170mm "kwarz" + 260mm cast
So:

T-80B turret protection for 0.:
420-510mm RHA vs APFSDS
540-630mm RHA vs HEAT

 

[militarysta]

Diffrent example of the passive armour: known from PzH2000 and SPz Puma "coniferous" armour - so mix ceramis and special small elastic bars able to disturb forming cumulative jet from subamunition. Simple and very effective:

 

[militarysta]

And here next type of passive armour - the cage armour:

Effectivnes af sucht armour is ussaly 50/50. So if ignitor hit bar then RPG will explode and SC jest will be formed properly and penetrate main armour. If ignitor hit BETWEEN rod (cages) then cumulative warhed will be seriously damage between sucht rods and cumulative jest will not be formed properly or even warhed will not be ignited at all.

In summary after read dozens pdfs about this I can describe effectivnes against "typical RPG granade" in case sevral types of cage armour:

1) "normal cage armour" 40-50% effectivens
2) polish light WITU cage armour - 60% effectivens
3) LASSO RUAG - 60-65% effectivnes
4) RPG-net - more then 65% effectivnes(!) and ultralight build.


RPG-net:

in RPG net sucht small metal bars on cros-setcions are do the same job as typical "heavy" cage on typical "cage armour"

sevral god pdf:
http://yadda.icm.edu.pl/yadda/element/b ... -0030-0008

http://www.procax.org.pl/pliki/Mechanik_17.pdf

 

[militarysta]

Rare - prototype of the T-80UD hull armour from circa 1985-1986.
Finnaly composition was diffrent. I post it here as intresting found "never exist in serial tank" solution

 

[militarysta]

And T-55AM Merida main and additional armour

Main armour:

and BDD armour:

hull:

turret:

BDD effectivnes:

grading – Variant 1, BDD armor (de-scribed as "metal-polymer block"), is credited with adding 120mm of protection against APDS and 200-250mm of
protection against HEAT or shaped-harge ammunition. In effect, the 60-degree frontal arc of a T-55 fitted with BDD armor was suddenly immune to tank-fired 105mm APDS and HEAT, as well as Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) ammunition.

So turret front: 210-230mm cast steel +BDD
and hull front: 250mm cast + BDD

if we take cast as 0.9 RHA and BDD effectivnes then whole protetion of the T-55AM will be as:
for turret: 190-207mm RHA + 120 = 310-~330mm vs APDS (APFSDS??)
hull 225mm RHA + 200-250 = 425-475mm vs HEAT


source:
http://www.jedsite.info/editors/james-warford_files/bdd-article-armor.pdf





======================
Chieftian Stilbrew:

 

[militarysta]

erly T-64B hull armour

80mm RHA - 105mm STEF (glas textolite)- 20mm RHA.

 

[militarysta]

Interesting found by Wiedzmin from otvaga forum.

Photo from first chechenia war:

In Wiedzmin opinnion it's propably T-72A hull whit unkown hull armour layout.
This tank was from circa 1984/1985

And this hull armour layout in closer:

IMHO: diffrent NERA armour inside T-72B or T-72B model 1989

 

[militarysta]

Polish PT-91 hull armour in tank factory ;-)

 

[militarysta]

Polish Leopard-2A5 aditional NxRA armour -those famous "wedges armour".

Very rare and interesting photos ;-)

zoomed internal lyout:

and special "cracks" to limiteted NxRA armour after hit:

NxRA pannels on Strv.122 hull front:

And two pdfs from germany whit explanation how it's works:

 

[militarysta]

NERA /NxRA armour

Shaped Charge Jet Interaction with Highly Effective Passive
Sandwich Systems - Experiments and Analysis
K. Thoma, D. Vinckier, and J. Kiermeir
CONDAT GmbH, D-85298 Fernhag (Germany)
U. Deisenroth
lngenieurburo Deisenroth (IBD), D-53797 Lohmar (Germany)
W. ----e
Battelle Ingenieurtechnik GmbH, D-60486 Frankfurt (Germany)

http://www.google.pl/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=& ... GU&cad=rja

For all tests, a shaped charge calibre 136 mm with a 60
degree copper cone and wave shaping was used. The maximum
penetration of this charge is 950 mm in RHA at a
standoff of 6 calibre. The jet tip velocity is 8250 m/s.
(...)
Five different materials were used, which will be
designated in the following with numbers 1 to 5. Reference
materials were an elastomer (no.4) and an FRP (fiber reinforced
plastics, no.5). The materials 1 to 3 are optimized
materials, developed by IBD for applications as sandwich
interlayer material. For each material, two tests were done.
(...)
Figure 7 shows in comparison the
compIete jet behind the target for shot 3a with a residual
penetration of 41 mm and for shot 4a with a residual penetration
of 107 mm.
(...)
In Figure 6 for example, a comparison between shot 1 b
(upper picture in Figure 6) with a residual penetration capability
of 15 mm and shot 3b (3rd picture in Figure 6) with a
residual penetration of 81 mm can be made.

So double NxRA (quite simmilar in layout to leo-2A5 "wedges armour") was able to reduce perforation level single SC warhed (diameter 136mm) from 950mm RHA to only
15 and 81mm - those values should be describe as extremly good.

 

[militarysta]

And here some simple polish NERA armour as ad-on modules for BRDM-2 and other vehicles:

and tests results:







well those ad on NERA modules are able to stop RPG PG-7M so it's not super hight-tech.
Propably that's the reson why this solution wasn't bought by Polish Army...


for end small descripsion in polish about those NERA modules:

W ramach sfinansowanego przez Ministerstwo Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego pro-jektu rozwojowego nr 0019/T00/2008/06 zrealizowano w WITPiS program badań ekspe-rymentalnych z użyciem granatów PG-7M, o przebijalności stali RHA 300-330 mm.
Przeprowadzono badania modelowych rozwiązań ekranów prętowych (rys. 1) i kaset typu NERA. Uzyskano rezultaty, dla których nie następuje przebicie pancerza
(...)
Kasety typu NERA mogą być obecnie stosowane dla cięższych pojazdów lub tylko fragmentami dla lżejszych (np. tylko do ochrony przestrzeni załogowej). Ze względu na ich budowę gęstość powierzchniowa tych rozwiązań wynosiła w trakcie badań od 220 do 390 kg/m2. Skuteczność kaset NERA jest znacznie wyższa od skutecz-ności ochronnej ekranów prętowych.
Porównując gęstości powierzchniowe opracowanych konstrukcji, uzyskano roz-wiązania o dużej efektywności masowej w stosunku do stali RHA. Przebijalność tej sta-li dla granatu PG-7M wynosi 300÷330 mm tj. 2340÷2570 kg/m2. Dla kaset typu NERA, licząc gęstość powierzchniową osłony razem z pancerzem kompozytowym i spall-linerem, można uzyskać ochronę o efektywności masowej ok. 4÷4,5. Zastosowane wy-kładziny wewnętrzne (spall-linery) skutecznie redukują kąt rozlotu odłamków, zmniej-szając tym samym poziom zagrożenia zranieniem dla większej liczby osób znajdują-cych się wewnątrz pojazdu.

 

[militarysta]

Swedish NERA trials:

MULTIPLE CROSS-WISE ORIENTATED
NERA-PANELS AGAINST SHAPED
CHARGE WARHEADS

http://www.mater.upm.es/isb2007/Proceed ... 29TB60.pdf

Add-on armour______________Penetration depth in base armour [mm]
No panels _________________________410mm
A single NERA-panel _________________70mm
Two parallel NERA___________________60mm
Two CWO- NERA____________________40mm

Test SC:
An ordinary calibre 84 mm shaped charge warhead for man-portable weapon was tested against non-explosive reactive armour panels. The liner is a 2.0 mm thick straight copper cone with a 25° half apex angle. The charge is point initiated and the main HE filler is cast octol 70/30. The claimed penetration capability is 450 mm armour steel at the optimal stand-off 350 mm.

 

[militarysta]

And here T-55 Enigma simple NERA armour (the Haji armour)

more or less very simple NERA whit single "NERA plate" layout:
10,3mm aluminia + 4mm rubber + 4.3mm RHA + 24,5mm space

 

[militarysta]

Merkava Mk.3D Dor Dalet special armour:

And - Merkava Mk.3 "citadele" of the turret and older ones modules:

turret base (or "citadele") so 50-100mm RHA and in some part cast:

fixed points for armour modules:

turret sides armour module - not specialy thick -circa 30-35cm (so simmilar like in Leo-2,. M1, etc)

 

[militarysta]

IBD armour module able to stop Pzf-3IT600 warhed

this module (circa 600mm thick?) was bale to stop SC whit perforation bigger then 800mm RHA (+ precursor)

 

[militarysta]

Again marvelous job by wiedzmin from otvaga2000.ru:

6 armour generation in "T-72" ;-)

valuse given perpendicular to th hull surface (so it's not LOS vaue)

1973 T-72 Ural
80mm RHA + 105mm STEF + 20mm RHA

1976
60mm RHA + 105mm STEF + 50mm RHA

1982-1984 T-72A/M1
16mm HHS + 60mm RHA + 105mm STEF + 50mm RHA

1984 T-72B wariant I
60mm RHA +15mm air gap + 15mm RHA/HHS +15mm air gap + 15mm RHA/HHS + 15mm air gap + 15mm RHA/HHS + 15mm air gap + 50mm RHA


1985-1987 T-72B wariant II
60mm RHA + 10mm air gap + 10mm HHS + 10mm air gap + 10mm HHS + 10mm air gap + 20mm RHA + 10mm air gap + 20mm RHA + 10mm air gap + 50mm RHA


1989 T-72B model 1989
60mm RHA +5mm rubber +3mm HHS +19mm air gap +3mm RHA + 5mm rubber +60mm HHS +10mm anti-radiation layer +50mm RHA