Chapter 187 New Armor-Piercing Bullet

Andrei's method would make the least structural changes to the T-72 while achieving the greatest effect. Kartsev immediately decided to report to the General Administration of Armored Forces and apply for a project to develop this reactive armor as soon as possible! No wonder Andrei climbed to the position of deputy commander at such a young age. His brain is really different from that of ordinary people. His ideas are too unique and too correct!

Hearing that Andrei had new ideas, Kartsev immediately took out his notebook and wrote them down one by one.

Sitting on the back of the T-72, Andre said, "After our reactive armor is manufactured, it can be laid on the hull armor. However, the armor on the turret needs to be welded with a frame so that the reactive armor can form a slope on the turret to further increase the bulletproof effect."

What Andre said is actually the shape of tank turrets in later generations, like China's Type 99. After improvements, additional modules were installed and it became the falcon-shaped shape at the front end of the Leopard 2A6 turret. It has a common name in later generations, called a bra.

At this time, Soviet tanks still had cast turrets that were streamlined to increase the chance of the enemy's bullets ricocheting, but this was already outdated. By placing the armor at an angle, the thickness could be artificially increased without changing the weight. After all, when the enemy's armor-piercing shells flew over, they would not travel according to the thickness of the armor, but the diagonal distance.

Kartsev nodded in agreement, saying it was a good idea!

"Also, our armor-piercing shells can further increase their aspect ratio to increase penetration depth." Andre said, "Our current tank guns are still not powerful enough to deal with the new tanks that are about to be finalized and equipped in the West."

Aspect ratio! I don't know what the Russians think, they always pay attention to big and thick, and the same is true for armor-piercing shells. Look at the armor-piercing shells of the Russians, they are thick and short, and the aspect ratio is only about ten, while the aspect ratio of Western armor-piercing shells is far more than ten, even twenty, twenty-five, thirty!

Aspect ratio, the ratio of length to diameter. Later, Dr. Anderson from the West conducted repeated research on armor-piercing bullets and obtained a simple formula. The most important factor in determining armor penetration depth, in addition to being related to speed, is the aspect ratio!

The Russians were stubborn and did not change their minds. The 3BM42 armor-piercing projectiles used in the main T-80U and T-90 main battle tanks are Russia's new generation of main APFSDS. The projectile body is still short and thick. The vertical armor-piercing depth at a distance of 2000 meters is only 450 mm, which is completely unable to destroy the main armor of Western tanks.

At the same time, China's 125mm tank gun, although the same caliber as the Soviet Union, was developed by absorbing the essence of the Western world. The aspect ratio of the armor-piercing projectile has reached 25. When using tungsten alloy tail-stabilized discarding sabot armor-piercing projectile, it can penetrate 850mm homogeneous armor at a distance of 2000 meters.

(Although there are people who keep making up stories, saying that China's 125mm tank gun is only 450mm powerful, and some even say it is only 220mm, in pursuit of artillery power, China, which is always facing the rolling armored torrent from the north, has always attached great importance to the construction of armored forces. Although this 125mm tank gun has some origins with the 2A46, China had already started researching 120mm smoothbore guns at that time. It was only after careful comparison that the 125mm caliber was chosen. Moreover, the electroslag remelting steel and barrel self-tightening technology are both from the West. It can be said that it combines the advantages of the East and the West, plus the enlarged chamber and the carefully designed armor-piercing shells, it is definitely not an empty talk to penetrate the main battle tanks of the West. Cheers to our tanks!)

"Increase the aspect ratio?" Kartsev said, "This will make our armor-piercing projectiles longer and unable to be loaded into our automatic loaders."

"It can be made thinner." Andre said, "To increase the aspect ratio, you can either increase the length or reduce the diameter. Using both methods at the same time is the best compromise. If the aspect ratio can reach 25 to 1, the best armor-piercing effect can be achieved."

"But that would result in the armor-piercing projectile being insufficiently strong and perhaps disintegrating in flight," Kartsev continued.

"To increase the strength, the core of the entire armor-piercing projectile can be made of high-strength tungsten alloy." Andre said: "Although it will increase the cost, it is definitely worth it relative to the power. You can also put another layer of steel jacket on the outside of the armor-piercing projectile to further increase the strength."

Now, the Soviet Union's 125mm tank gun has been in service for nearly ten years. However, the armor-piercing shells equipped in the early days were all powder-condensed piercing rods. Basically, only one armor-piercing head was made of tungsten alloy, and the rear section was still made of steel, such as the 3BM26. Moreover, with the mass production of T-72, in order to reduce costs, a large number of second-line troops were equipped with cheaper 3BM15 steel armor-piercing shells, which were made entirely of steel without any tungsten alloy. The export model of this armor-piercing shell was the famous Iraqi 3BM17 in the Gulf War, a complete rip-off.

In later generations, the Soviet Union successfully developed the main 3BM42 tungsten alloy armor-piercing projectile in 1986. Because this thing was not strong enough, a layer of steel sheath was put on the outside of the tungsten alloy.

Every word of Andrei's was like an epiphany, and Kartsev couldn't help but admire that Andrei was such a genius!

Although the T-72 is a low-end product and pursues quantitative advantage, wars may break out on island countries at any time. This kind of local war does not require the Soviet Union to tighten its belt. The armor-piercing projectiles that Andrei mentioned can be tested after returning. If it is really as he said, increasing the aspect ratio to twenty-five to one and changing it to a whole tungsten alloy can greatly increase the armor penetration depth, then Soviet tanks will be the nightmare of the Western world!

Reactive armor may take longer, but armor-piercing shells can be made at any time. The split-type shells do not need to be changed, just make a few armor-piercing shells.

"In fact, depleted uranium is a better material for armor-piercing bullets. It can burn during the armor-piercing process, increasing the armor-piercing effect." Andre continued.

The Soviet Union had abundant tungsten ore and could smelt a large amount of tungsten alloys, unlike the West, which used depleted uranium armor-piercing bullets because tungsten production was scarce. However, the power of depleted uranium armor-piercing bullets was indeed greater than that of tungsten alloys. Anyway, the Soviet Union had so many research institutions that it might be able to produce more powerful armor-piercing bullets.

As for radiation and the like, since it was launched on enemy territory, Andre didn't care!