Slat armour discussion; split from Leopard 2 Pictures

[Leathlord]

Hate to sound like a total idiot but what's with the chicken fencing on the tanks? Shrapnel? Rocks?


(Mod edit to change title after split from original thread.)

 

[ironduke57]

Nowadays that´s called "Slat Armor". It help´s against hollow charge warhead´s.

Regards,
ironduke57

 

[HItorMiss]

Sapper

It's for RPG protection I don't know of an IED that attacks horizontaly..... It was pioneered of sorts in IRAQ the wire mesh causes the RPG to detonte early agaist the mesh and not on the hull of the vehicle thus ensureing the PRG does not "pop" the vehicle.


EDIT: What Duke said only mine is a little more indepth on how is works and his talkes about the charge...guess between the two you got a very full answer.

 

[geo]

The RPGs that the Soviets designed ant the Russians/Chinese/etc have distributed make almost every man an antitank gunner.  The manportable RPGs don't have the penetrating power of rockets and tank rounds but are lethal enough to stop a dank by damaging some of it's components.

The slat armour is a screen that is bolted on - away from the actual vehicle - making the RPG round and anything else thrown at the vehicle, explode - before it can damage anything - anything that does get damaged will be repairable.

 

[ironduke57]

...It was pioneered of sorts in IRAQ ...

Well basically it was already used in WWII by us and the russians in different form´s. IIRC the western allies preferred sandbag´s on there tank´s to minimize the effectiveness of hollow charge warhead´s.

Regards,
ironduke57

 

[HItorMiss]

Pioneered was a bad choice of words I guess, how about rediscovered or returned to use? I know it was not invend in IRAQ but it's use resurfaced again in that AO.

 

[geo]

All the german Sturmgeshutz variants hade sheet steel plating along it's sides....
did the same thing... just a lot more weight.

Also, thinking about it, the slat system probably dissipates a lot of the impact's shockwave

 

[HItorMiss]

Along the lines of Spaced Armour or ERA though I know ERA works on a different principle it does cause the charge to expend itself prematurely on a non important area and not on the hull.

 

[vonGarvin]

Along the lines of Spaced Armour or ERA though I know ERA works on a different principle it does cause the charge to expend itself prematurely on a non important area and not on the hull.

Actually, ERA works differently, in that it alters the terminal ballistics of shaped charge warheads.  Slat armour allows the shaped charge to function as designed, but not at the proper "distance" from the hull of the vehicle.
(Not going all technical here, but this should be enough info)

 

[ironduke57]

All the german Sturmgeshutz variants hade sheet steel plating along it's sides.... Only on later variants side skirts where mandatory. But that doesn´t mean that earlier models were not upgraded.
did the same thing... just a lot more weight. Originally the side skirt´s were not added to stop hollow charge´s. They where meant to stop large caliber anti armor gun´s like russian 14,5mm PTRS or the british .55 Boys. That they also helped against hollow charge was a positive side effect (The theory behind hollow charges was then more or less unknown.)which proved useful in the later year´s of the war.

Also, thinking about it, the slat system probably dissipates a lot of the impact's shockwave

RED

Maybe this should be splitted from the thread so I could stay on the original topic.

Regards,
ironduke57

 

[geo]

All good points Ironduke.

Chimo!

 

[Leathlord]

Originally I thought they'd be for IED's but I was thinking why would they be on the sides? All the clips of tanks in Iraq getting blown up to pieces the charge comes from underneath.

 

[geo]

Leo 2A6M has additional armour on it's belly to protect it from IEDs.
this may not protect it from being immobilized (track & roadwheel damages) but it'll keep the crew safe & sound... though they may be right pi$$ed off about having bent their ride.