Tank cumulative projectile: principle of operation

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:45

Fans of playing computer tank "shooting", like real soldiers, do not always think about how this or that ammunition works, the result is important to them. However, the toy battle is different from the real one. In a war, tanks rarely fight among themselves; with the right leadership of troops, they are designed to break through enemy defense lines, mobile coverage of fortified areas and disrupt rear communications. However, duels are also possible, and then one cannot do without armor-piercing means. Along with the usual "blanks" and subcalibers, a cumulative projectile is often used. World Of Tanks is a game whose developers tried to convey with maximum realism the equipment of the Second World War and the ammunition that was used by the armies participating in it. Its conditions do not claim to be completely historically accurate, but it gives general ideas about the conditions of a tank battle.

In order to properly use the possible arsenal of damaging weapons, do notit is mandatory, but it is desirable to know how the cumulative projectile works, what are its main characteristics, and in what cases it can be used, and in which it can be limited to less expensive charges.

Tank evolution

The first tanks were slow mobile artillery batteries (sometimes with several guns) protected by bulletproof armor. These were analogues of armored trains, with the difference that they could move not on rails, but on rough terrain and, of course, on roads. The evolution of technical solutions has led to new ways of using armored vehicles, it has become more mobile and has taken over some of the functions of the cavalry. The most advanced achievements could boast of the Soviet engineering school, which by the end of the thirties of the XX century came to a common concept that determines the appearance of a modern tank. All other countries until the end of the war continued to build combat vehicles according to an outdated scheme, with a front transmission, narrow tracks, riveted hulls and carburetor engines. Nazi Germany achieved somewhat greater successes than Great Britain and the United States. The engineers who built the Tigers and Panthers made a number of attempts to increase the durability of their vehicles by using sloped armor. The Germans also had to change the width of the tracks according to the conditions of the Eastern Front. Long-barreled guns have become another feature that brings the characteristics of Wehrmacht tanks closer to modern standards. This is where progress in the camp of our enemies stopped.

When we haveappeared cumulative ammunition

As history has shown, the world technical thought came to the general ideology of tank building, adopted in the USSR, only in the mid-fifties. But there were also directions in which the enemy was ahead of us. Already at the beginning of the war, the German troops were armed with a cumulative projectile. The principle of operation of this formidable armor-piercing weapon, in general, was known to Soviet designers according to intelligence data. With the outbreak of hostilities, it became possible to study captured samples. But when trying to make copies and analogues, numerous technical difficulties arose. Only by 1944 did the USSR create its own artillery and tank cumulative projectile capable of penetrating the armor protection of German vehicles that had increased by that time. Currently, most of the ammunition of each combat unit consists of this type of ammunition.

Difficult situation on the Eastern Front

It should also be noted that at the beginning of the war it was extremely difficult for the Germans to deal with Soviet armored vehicles. All medium, and even more so heavy tanks, which were in service with the Red Army, had reliable anti-shell armor, moreover, sloping. The caliber of the turret guns, if any (and the T-1, for example, was armed only with a machine gun), was not enough to hit the T-34 or KV. Only assault aircraft, field or anti-aircraft artillery, which, as a rule, fired with blanks, could fight our tanks. The effectiveness of the application increased if the charge was cumulative. The sub-caliber projectile also had strong armor-piercing,but it turned out to be too complicated in production and required high costs, and Germany, which fought in addition to the Eastern Front both at sea and in Africa, had to save money.

First attempts to create anti-tank weapons

Immediately after the appearance of armored vehicles on the battlefields, the opposing sides faced the question of destroying it or, in extreme cases, inflicting the greatest damage on it. An ordinary cartridge did not penetrate the protection, although its layer was not very thick due to the low power of internal combustion engines of that time (and this was during the First World War). There were no special armor-piercing ammunition yet, they needed to be invented. Design possibilities were limited by two factors: cost, on the one hand, and striking, on the other. Thought moved in different directions. Its top was a cumulative projectile. The principle of operation of various armor-piercing shells will be discussed below.

How to pierce armor

To break through ordinary sheet armor, you need to concentrate on its area, imparting kinetic energy to it. The easiest way to do this is with a projectile, which is a solid blank, equipped with a pointed end, crushed when it hits an obstacle. A sufficiently strong impulse can become a condition for the destruction of the barrier, causing local overvoltages exceeding the intermolecular bonds of the metal. This is what they did at the beginning: they fired blanks, realizing that an explosion produced even on the very surface of the armor would hardly be able to hit a livingforce and mechanisms due to the dispersion of the shock wave. Shards in this case are also practically useless.

The blank cracked on the tank

Improvement of armor protection, as well as the use of its inclined location, reduced the effectiveness of a solid armor-piercing projectile. Getting on a slanted plane, it most often ricocheted, although due to its peculiarities it sometimes turned out to be capable of so-called normalization. It consisted in the fact that after the first touch of the tip, the motion vector changed somewhat (up to five degrees), and the angle of impact on the armor became more blunt. This led to a more efficient distribution of the load on the area of the affected protection, and even if the armor did not break through, a kind of funnel formed on its inner side, and pieces of metal flew into the vehicle at high speed, maiming and killing the crew. In addition, one should not discount the compression effect, in other words, a strong and rapid change in pressure (in essence, a powerful blow of an air wave).

Sub-caliber weapons

A strong steel core encased in a softer projectile can solve the problem of armor destruction. After hitting, this rod, as it were, goes beyond its temporary shell and delivers a strong blow, concentrated on a small area. Sub-calibers are capable of penetrating thick armor, while partially retaining the advantages of a blank projectile. They have their own vices, less armor-piercing at long distances and a much more modest anglenormalization (rotation does not exceed two degrees). For all its effectiveness, this ammunition was quite high-tech, expensive, and besides, it did not always cope with its task. And then there was…

How HEAT projectile works

The main drawback of all previous developments in the field of armor-piercing ammunition is expressed in their very name. They are designed to break through. But this is not enough. Well, they made a hole in the armor, but if the energy of the projectile is extinguished by it, then it can no longer cause significant harm to the internal mechanisms and crew. The tank can be repaired by welding a hole, the wounded tankers can be sent to the hospital, the dead can be buried with honors, and the vehicle can be sent back into battle. However, all this becomes impossible if a cumulative projectile hits the armor. Its principle of operation lies in the fact that after burning a hole, an explosive charge rushes into it, destroying everything that seemed to be reliably protected.

Device

At present, there is no more effective means to fight tanks than a cumulative projectile. World Of Tanks offers gamers to purchase them only for "gold", classifying these virtual ammunition as "gold". And no wonder, with a successful hit, they guarantee the destruction of the target. It is not worth spending them on opponents who do not have a sufficiently high degree of protection. If you can use the usual "beshka", that is, an armor-piercing projectile, then it is recommended to use it. Finding out how to buy a HEAT shell is easy by reading the terms of the game, butit is recommended not to waste it, otherwise it will not be enough at the right time. But these are all games, and in a real fight…

The general military principle of concentration has been successfully applied in the device of the cumulative ammunition. On a small area of primary contact, a jet of gas heated to the plasma state arises, which, like a welding machine, burns a hole. The thermite action is accompanied by the penetration of the main charge into the protected space, which explodes already under the armor and causes major damage. This principle was used in the device of the manual Faustpatron, which was widely used at the end of the Second World War. The cumulative RPG projectile works the same way. However, tank builders have learned to deal with this problem as well.

Cumulative Explosion Countermeasures

The first samples of armor-burning ammunition were designed for armor protection used on tanks during the Second World War, and it was unpretentious. Nothing prevented the jet of hot gas from acting on the metal layer; it arose immediately after the impact. The simplest countermeasure is the creation of conditions for the premature operation of the thermite component of the charge. To do this, it is enough to create an outer layer of "false armor" - and the jet will heat the air instead of metal.

The second method is applicable to any tanks created without taking into account the capabilities of HEAT shells. It is necessary to disperse the concentrated stream with a small counter-explosion, for which TNT can be placed on the armor in special boxes on the outermachine surface. This method is widely used today.

The third method is used in the latest generation of tanks that use integrated armor technology. Modern protection is multi-layered, it alternates between ceramic fillers, explosive investigators and heavy-duty sheet armor.

Tandem projectiles

There is no defense that cannot be overcome at all. The usual "burners" of armor after the advent of countermeasures were replaced by a tandem cumulative projectile. Its principle of operation differs from the classical one in that the thermite and main warheads are spaced apart in length, and if the first stage falsely works, then the second will certainly reach the target. Currently known anti-tank weapons with two and three charges. The direction of thermite jets in some models (mainly Russian ones) are shifted relative to each other so that they do not interfere with one another. This provides the ability to penetrate up to 800 mm of modern protection.

This is a cumulative projectile. War Thunder, World Of Tanks and other similar computer games give a general idea about the features of the use of this ammunition and its characteristics. It will be better if this knowledge remains useful only to gamers for their virtual battles.