What apron does the tank wear?

In the late 1980s, the United States manufactured a durable jacket-depleted uranium armor for its main battle tank M 1A 1 to cope with the attack of the 135mm gun equipped on the tanks of the former Soviet Union. This is another fashion of tanks after Israel invented explosive block armor, which has attracted the attention of all countries in the world.

The name "depleted uranium armor" sounds a bit strange. In fact, it is a new type of armor (used in nuclear weapons or nuclear reactors) made of by-products produced after uranium enrichment.

This kind of depleted uranium armor is made of ordinary steel armor embedded in mesh or filamentous depleted uranium material and then subjected to special heat treatment. Because this kind of armor is hard and strong, its ability to resist shell attack is five times that of steel armor, so it can effectively defend against armor-piercing projectile and armor-piercing projectile attack, without increasing the weight of the tank and reducing the maneuverability.

The United States installed this depleted uranium armor on the body and turret of the M 1A 1 tank. The actual test shows that the armor-piercing projectile fired by 135 mm smoothbore gun is difficult to penetrate it. In the Gulf War of 199 1, M 1A 1 tanks wore this kind of uranium coat and fought bravely under the intensive enemy artillery fire, making great achievements.

Although depleted uranium armor has certain radioactivity, the radiation is very small and will not cause much harm to human health. After 75 hours of continuous work, the personnel on armored tanks equipped with depleted uranium were only exposed to 30 millirem radiation, which is equivalent to the dose released by a chest X-ray examination. Therefore, the tank crew wearing uranium clothes do not need special protection.

In addition to uranium clothing, the United States also put on a special apron for the M 1A 1 tank. This apron is a special armor plate, which is installed outside the tracks and wings on both sides of the tank. It is about 5 ~ 6 mm thick and made of two layers of high-hardness steel plates. Or made of special rubber; Some are also made of carbon fiber material sandwiched between two high-hardness steel plates.

A tank equipped with this armor plate is like putting an apron on a tank. Therefore, people call this kind of armor plate "armor skirt", and some people call it "shielding armor" or "side deck".

After the tank is fitted with a special apron, its protection is greatly enhanced. This is because when the armor-piercing projectile hits the armor skirt and explodes, the high-temperature and high-pressure metal jet produced first penetrates the hard armor skirt and then reaches the main armor of the tank. But at this time, the metal jet has been elongated and thinned, even broken, and it is difficult to penetrate the main armor, which protects the main armor of the tank and the exposed tracks, load wheels, driving wheels and inducers.

At present, this tank apron has become a popular "fashion", and tanks in many countries, such as German Leopard II tank and Russian T-72 tank, are equipped with armored skirts to improve the protective performance of armor.