What are these chains behind the turret of Merkava tank for?

The function of this row of steel chains is to detonate the armor-piercing projectile fired by the enemy in advance, so that its meta

What are these chains behind the turret of Merkava tank for?

The function of this row of steel chains is to detonate the armor-piercing projectile fired by the enemy in advance, so that its metal jet can not play its role at the best distance.

The chain is placed at the back to protect the gap between the turret and the car body. Because of the special operational environment of Israeli tanks, their main tasks are urban warfare and supporting infantry. They are easily attacked by RPG and other rockets in narrow places, and the back pocket is a weakness. With steel chains, the defense in the back hemisphere is enhanced.

Principle:

The shaped charge warhead of modern anti-armor rocket uses explosives to instantly press the copper cover in the warhead into a metal jet, and this metal jet is fired at the armor at a very high speed, penetrating the armor and destroying the personnel and equipment behind it. Shaped charge warhead has a good penetration effect on uniform steel armor.

But it has a disadvantage, that is, the metal jet it produces will decay very quickly in the air, which greatly reduces the ability to penetrate steel armor, so the shaped charge warhead is a collision fuse. Taking advantage of this shortcoming, a kind of armor-barrier armor (including similar steel chains) is produced to deal with shaped charge warhead, which will detonate shaped charge warhead in advance, and the air between it and the main armor will greatly weaken the penetration of metal jet.

The principle of this steel chain is actually the same as the grid installed on armored vehicles in other countries:

-American STRYKER armored vehicles installed extra grids in urban warfare to prevent RPG warhead ejection.

However, this grid (including Israeli steel chain) has no effect on kinetic energy armor-piercing projectile and self-forging warhead.