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RPG's and tankbusters
I was reading something the other day that got me curious. Some type of round penetrated an A1 Abrams tank leaving a hole smaller than a pinkie finger. The round went completely through the tank's armor and bounced around inside the tank before imbedding itself 2 inches deep. Here's where I read the article at Mysterious Round Disables Abram. The official release says it was...."just a lucky shot by an RPG." What do ya'll think?
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My guess would be a Tungsten-core .50 cal AP round fired from a light fifty rifle. I've seen a training video for USMC sinpers, and the damage inflicted is comparable to what happened to the tank. It penetrated a 3-in piece of steel, then left chunks of metal embedded in everything behind it. The round left a hole about the size of a pencil, then fragmented.
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http://www.sftt.org/PPT/article05242003a.ppt
check this out, pretty informative powerpoint presentation on the Abrams in Iraq. Some nice pictures in there too. |
Nope...the Tungsten-Carbide cores of the Raufoss ammo wouldn't even dent the armour of an Abrams. You're talking about 2.5-ish inches of super-dense ceramic, plus .75 inches of DU, then another 2.5-ish inches of ceramic. Fifty-cal stuff just bounces off that stuff, as do the shells of all but one or two tank-mounted guns in the world. The 125mm gun carried by the T-80 can do it, and the Chinese have a 152mm in production that'll shred the stuff ( not sure of the designation ) but no man-packed or shoulder-fired firearm can penetrate it, and most RPG-type warheads just leave a big dent.
Several European companies ( Beretta is one, as is Solothurn ) are producing heavy-calibre rifles in 14.5, 15, 17, and 20mm, firing DU or Tungsten-Carbide saboted projectiles...it's possible that one of these, particularly the Beretta 15mm, could have done it, but unlikely. |
.50 cal depleted uranium round perhaps? Or maybe like Selfdestruct said, a regular .50 cal.
The .50 was originally intended as an anti-tank round. Besides a tank is actually a pretty delicate machine. It wont take as much punishment as popular media makes it out to take. |
Where did the projectile hit?
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It hit the weld between the hull and the deck, a classic softspot on a tank. From what I have seen and heard it was most likely a RPG-7V and a very lucky shot.
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