Russian tanks will be defenseless: what is the feature of Western ammunition (photo)
About it reports an Italian retired officer and military analyst Thomas Tainer. All western tanks equip 120 or 105 mm guns, and therefore many use the same ammunition. British Challenger 2 is different from Leopard, Abrams or any other tank with a threaded trunk and the use of armor-piercing ammunition. The analyst notes that the rifled trunk is less durable, and ammunition will fly from it 20-30% slower than the smooth-bore tools.
Therefore, with the modernization of Challenger 2 Challenger 3, the trunks are replaced by smooth -barreled, as in other western tanks. According to Thomas Tainer, western tanks use several types of ammunition: the most commonly used and most effective ammunition is armor-pierced-sub-caliber APDS. The longer the trunk of the tank, the higher the peak pressure of the powder, which means the higher speed of flight of ammunition. The speed of APDS can reach 5 strokes - this is 6125 km/h.
The second subtype of this ammunition - APFSDS is made of impoverished uranium and tungsten. If you simplify, Tainer writes, when the APFSDS projectile is kissed, the armor acts like a liquid. After passing the tank armor, the fragments from the projectile and armor will destroy the crew. According to the Italian analyst, Russian tanks will be defenseless against APFSDS, they will not be able to stop even active protection systems.
Russian cars will not be able to punch their armor-piercing and caliber shells by a western tank. The denser the combined reservation of the tank, the less the chances that the projectile will be able to go through all layers of armor. Hence the M1 Abrams and "Uranium armor" appears, which is denser than ordinary types of metals. Due to the advanced optics, weapons stabilization and fire control will not miss Russian cars.
The ballistic computer automatically calculates the force of gravity, which allows you to shoot the ballistic curve. As a result, Thomas Tainer says that comparing Western tanks with Russian is the same as comparing F-35 fighter jets with MiG-21. The difference in a couple of generations. Recall that ISW believes that the supply of tanks and armored vehicles in Ukraine will undermine the ability of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation to go on the offensive.