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Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works. Each vehicle would be covered in 'smart armour' using electrical fields, instead of thick metal, to give protection against anti-tank weapons. The technology, which is being perfected by defence researchers on both sides of the Atlantic, would transform armoured-vehicle construction. Current machines, such as Britain's Challenger tank, weigh more than 60 tonnes because they have to carry plating that is more than 2ft thick. Such vehicles require massive amounts of fuel and other supplies, and cause logistical headaches when being transported to conflict zones, say military experts. But a tank that relied on electromagnetic pulses, instead of plating, to provide a shield against missiles would weigh a modest 20 tonnes. A fleet would form a light but powerful rapid deployment force, and would transform Western nations' ability to take international military action. Smart-armour research is treated as highly confidential by military officials and manufacturers. A Ministry of Defence spokesman would only confirm that projects aimed at transforming tank construction - part of the Army's Future Land Command project - were taking place. However, scientists at the US Army Research Laboratory in Aberdeen, Maryland, have now revealed details of how smart armour would work. According to research published in the current issue of New Scientist, each tank would be covered with tiles made of strong plas tic under which a sandwich of different materials would be installed. First there would be a mat of optical fibres, then a thin sheet of standard armour plating, and underneath that would lie a series of metal coils. When an anti-tank shell explodes on standard armour, the copper cone of its head is projected as a powerful jet of metal that travels at five miles a second. This jet focuses an immense amount of energy on a tiny area and so can slice easily through several feet of dense metal, causing devastation inside a tank. However, on striking smart armour a shell would produce a very different reaction. Firstly, it would sever optical cables in the mat below the tank's outer plastic cover. This would trigger sensors to activate electrical capacitors inside the tank which would send a mighty electrical current surging through the metal coils at the base of the smart armour. A massive electromagnetic field would be created inside the armour, as the high-velocity copper jet begins to pass through it. This field would induce electrical currents in the copper. The thin copper jet would be flattened and broadened out and so would be unable to cut through the thin standard plating at the base of the smart armour. Essentially, electromagnets would be used to dissipate the energy of an anti-tank missile or shell, like the force shields that protect the fictional Starship Enterprise. And would the armour have the ability to sense that the fibres have been cut and to send the requisite charge to the coils in enough time? Either way, this is the kind of research we need to be doing. A panzer unit was called into action after the Germans got over-stretched. The panzers however, wouldn't start, and the unit did not see action. I think these tank "advances" are getting a bit esoteric. Pretty soon, they'll tell us we just need a private and a wheelbarrow containing the latest whiz-bang electronics to defend the country. Then, someone will find out the hard way that all that whiz-bang gear may stop missiles and gunfire, but not a single determined man with a spear. Has to be pretty complex to pull this off without blasting your own guys and stuff with a localised EM burst of such strength. Useful idea, but I would imagine quite a ways off before a practical and deployed application. And what happens when the next round just happens to hit that exact spot? Perhaps you would rather be speaking German or Japanese right now? The question then becomes whether or not you could use hardened plastic to tip shells - which wouldn't be as susceptible to magnetic fields - though in liquid form that might not be the case. You just told the enemy how to beat us: the Flintstones way. Stay Safe 176 21 Posted on 08/19/2001 09:25:28 PDT by 177 Squantos 178 Reply | 179 Private Reply | 180 To 1 | 181 Top | 182 Last 183 To: cinFLA Perhaps you would rather be speaking German or Japanese right now? Serbia and Iraq) as well as a host of other abominations have left me cynical to such an extent that I no longer trust those who would tell me that Hitler or any other historical figure was evil. I simply can't imagine being any more disgusted with my tax money paying to support anybody in Germany or Japan more than I'm already disgusted with supporting Barney Frank, Ted Kennedy, The Clinton Gang, or Gary Condit. Besides, Hitler couldn't have been all wrong - we become more like him every day! I guess the tankers inside better not be wearing any metal, riding around in a giant MRI machine! You may flatten the incoming round, but it'll still rock your world. Also, that fiber-optic mat would seem to be useful against just one incoming round, not to mention the time and energy required to recharge those capacitors. Supposedly, that would disrupt incoming rounds and disort their paths and cause premature detonation. In Europe during WWII the American Tanks were out gunned and under protected. On a one to one basis a Sherman Tank was blown away by a Tiger. I would hope that these new tanks could be cheaper than the ones we have now. So on the second day a guy stands up and starts finding targets going "BANG" one of the opfor keeps coming - the guy "shoots" again with no result. As the opfor soldier runs over him he hears the guy saying "TANK, TANK, TANK" Is that what you meant? Sounds like a silver bullet would go right through a tank equipped with one of these things. The effect is "crimp" the plasma jet of superheated materials produced by a HEAT or "shaped charge" round. Of course, the Russians have used "Reactive Armor" (exlosives to defeat explosives) on their tanks for years. The armor thicknes is still enough to give a 120mm silver bullet something to chew through, and occaisionally defeat. OTOH, they are probably worried about RPGs and antitank missles with shaped charges during limited conflicts. Enemy tanks and anti-tank artillery would have to be supressed with air power. I say yes, it will stop em if it indeed functions as designed. They electronically fire bullets rather than mechanically. This allows them to pump out an almost continuous stream of bullets. If the first few bullets are bounced off the fibers, the next few will cut right through! The gun fires a cubic array of about 1,000,000 rounds a minute! I heard this second hand at work so it might be the gun that has to be sent back to the factory to be reloaded. That's a HEAT High Explosive/ AntiTank round they're specificly describling, with a copper liner of the HEAT rounds shaped charge, utilizing a copper liner to enhance the penetrating capability of the Monroe Effect, though not all shaped charges use a copper liner. When an anti-tank shell explodes on standard armour, the copper cone of its head is projected as a powerful jet of metal that travels at five miles a second. This jet focuses an immense amount of energy on a tiny area and so can slice easily through several feet of dense metal, causing devastation inside a tank. Either an APDS *Sabot round* or a REALLY low tech shot round, nothing more than a solid, bore-diameter projectile of dense material, usually with a more aerodymamicly pointed windscreen and sometimes a nosecap of softer steel or ductile iron up front to lessen the *skidding* tendency upon hitting very sloped armour as per Soviet glacis armour generally was or upon a hit from a very oblique angle, would very likely be beyond the capabilities of such electronic countermeasures to defeat. I'd be interested in seeing what a British HES...
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