thedrifter
07-09-04, 09:01 AM
INFANTRY 1, TANK 0: Hand-Held Anti-Tank Weapons
Man versus machine, soldiers taking on tanks -- it's been a back-and-forth struggle, but infantry has the current advantage with EFP -- explosively formed penetrators.
It's the classic David and Goliath conflict: infantry versus armored vehicles. At the start of World War II, infantry held the distinct advantage in terms of battlefield survival. Though relatively small, the German 37mm Pak 36 and the British 40mm 2-pounder infantry guns were capable of defeating any armored vehicle in service in 1939, yet were light enough that they could be towed by a jeep, or even picked up and carried by their crews.
Unfortunately, this advantage didn't last long; by 1941 newer tanks had increased their armor. While larger AT guns had come into service to meet these up-armored threats, they were so large that they could only be organized into specialized anti-tank units. If an infantry unit ever found itself attacked by tanks without an attached AT unit, there was little to be done against the tanks. Since infantry were incapable of carrying effective AT guns by themselves, there was a need for a weapon light enough to be man-portable, yet powerful enough to destroy a tank. Sure, demolition charges, anti-tank mines, and grenades were effective in destroying tanks, but they were only useful in extremely confined environments such as villages, where infantry was able to sneak right up to the tank unseen.
http://www.*************/pics/SoldierTech_EFP3.jpg
Modern EFP: This Canadian "Mach 6 aerodynamic EFP" was created by explosively deforming a contoured metal liner (photo from DRDC Suffield Website).
No, if these new weapons were going to be of any use, they would need some "standoff" capability which gave the infantry enough cover, while still preserving their ability to attack tanks in open terrain. Thus began the chain of technological innovations which have led to us to Explosively Formed Penetrators (EFP), or Self Forging Fragments.
Panzerfaust: Tank Fist
In 1942 the German Whermacht introduced the Panzerfaust 30. German for tank fist, the Panzerfaust was a hand-held rocket that weighed 10 pounds, had an effective range of 30 yards, and was capable of defeating any armored vehicle fielded during the war. The Panzerfaust (and similar weapons like the American Bazooka, British PIAT, and German Panzerschreck) achieved amazing performance through the use of a point-initiating, base detonating, shaped charge (SC) warhead.
The SC is an explosive compound formed around a metal (usually copper) cone, with the base of the cone oriented on the target. When the SC detonates, the energy wave created travels through the explosive until it reaches the angled walls of the cone. Once there, the wave's energy vector is redirected to a point just in front of the base of the cone, focusing all of the SC's energy upon a single point, thus reducing the copper cone into a superplastic state and superheated gas, called plasma. This metal plasma jet, traveling at the propagation speed of the explosive used to form the plasma (thousands of meters per second) would then strike the target, burning its way through the metal and spraying the interior of the vehicle with superheated gases and molten metal.
With the Panzerfaust and its brethren, infantry once again held the advantage over armored vehicles. While armor still commanded the open areas, it was a foolish tank commander who ventured too close to a village without infantry support. The SC principle was incorporated into full scale anti-tank cannon munitions to give field artillery, as well as other tanks, an anti armor capability. Known as High Explosive, Anti-Tank (HEAT), these munitions had the benefit of being uniformly effective throughout their entire range. Where the armor penetrating capabilities of a kinetic energy round fell off over distance (as the projectile bled off energy), the HEAT rounds were just as effective at their maximum range as they were at point blank range.
http://www.*************/pics/SoldierTech_EFP6.jpg
In the beginning: The German Panzerfaust (photo from Tankmaster).
ATGMs, Explosive Reactive Armor, and Duplex Weapons: Adapt or Die
While the hand-held SC weapons used by the infantry were the most effective at destroying armored vehicles (a shaped charge warhead will penetrate a thickness of steel equivalent to 150-250% of the warhead's diameter, which made the oversized infantry weapons more effective than cannon launched munitions), their limited range meant that they were a risk that armored formations could manage against - simply avoid built-up areas or limited-visibility terrain where rocket carrying infantry might hide. The introduction of the ATGM (Anti Tank Guided Missile) in the 1950s changed all that.
Carrying a large SC warhead, with a range that in many cases was greater than most tank guns, the ATGM finally gave the infantry the ability to reach out and destroy armored vehicles with impunity. This was not a risk that armor could mitigate; out-ranged and outgunned (you could not hang enough steel on a tank to prevent SC burn-through), the introduction of the ATGM all but signaled the extinction of the tank.
But in 1967, the German research scientist Manfred Held, while in Israel conducting experiments on tanks destroyed during the Six-Day War, discovered that an explosive "counter blast" could greatly reduce the effectiveness of SC weapons; thus, Explosive Reactive Armor (ERA) was born.
ERA, essentially a layer of explosive material sandwiched between metal plates, defeats SC weapons by disrupting and prematurely dissipating the metal plasma jet. Attached as blocks to vulnerable sections of the vehicle, ERA is detonated when the jet from a SC penetrates the outer metal plate. The resulting explosion travels at the same velocity as the plasma jet, but in the opposite direction, disrupting the precise flow of the jet, dispersing its energy and greatly reducing its effectiveness.
Though effective, ERA had its limitations; tanks equipped with ERA posed a serious risk to accompanying infantry who could be killed or injured by the exploding blocks. In addition, ERA was ablative and effective only once, so multiple weapons, or weapons with multiple (duplex) warheads would still be able to destroy a tank by pre-detonating the ERA blocks in one location. Nonetheless, ERA, and the later development of Chobham composite armor in the 1970s, once again neutralized the infantry's advantage over armor on the battlefield.
http://www.*************/pics/SoldierTech_EFP7.jpg
A modern version of the shaped charge warhead: the MGM-164A has a range of about 140 km (87 miles). (Lockheed Martin photo).
continued.....
Man versus machine, soldiers taking on tanks -- it's been a back-and-forth struggle, but infantry has the current advantage with EFP -- explosively formed penetrators.
It's the classic David and Goliath conflict: infantry versus armored vehicles. At the start of World War II, infantry held the distinct advantage in terms of battlefield survival. Though relatively small, the German 37mm Pak 36 and the British 40mm 2-pounder infantry guns were capable of defeating any armored vehicle in service in 1939, yet were light enough that they could be towed by a jeep, or even picked up and carried by their crews.
Unfortunately, this advantage didn't last long; by 1941 newer tanks had increased their armor. While larger AT guns had come into service to meet these up-armored threats, they were so large that they could only be organized into specialized anti-tank units. If an infantry unit ever found itself attacked by tanks without an attached AT unit, there was little to be done against the tanks. Since infantry were incapable of carrying effective AT guns by themselves, there was a need for a weapon light enough to be man-portable, yet powerful enough to destroy a tank. Sure, demolition charges, anti-tank mines, and grenades were effective in destroying tanks, but they were only useful in extremely confined environments such as villages, where infantry was able to sneak right up to the tank unseen.
http://www.*************/pics/SoldierTech_EFP3.jpg
Modern EFP: This Canadian "Mach 6 aerodynamic EFP" was created by explosively deforming a contoured metal liner (photo from DRDC Suffield Website).
No, if these new weapons were going to be of any use, they would need some "standoff" capability which gave the infantry enough cover, while still preserving their ability to attack tanks in open terrain. Thus began the chain of technological innovations which have led to us to Explosively Formed Penetrators (EFP), or Self Forging Fragments.
Panzerfaust: Tank Fist
In 1942 the German Whermacht introduced the Panzerfaust 30. German for tank fist, the Panzerfaust was a hand-held rocket that weighed 10 pounds, had an effective range of 30 yards, and was capable of defeating any armored vehicle fielded during the war. The Panzerfaust (and similar weapons like the American Bazooka, British PIAT, and German Panzerschreck) achieved amazing performance through the use of a point-initiating, base detonating, shaped charge (SC) warhead.
The SC is an explosive compound formed around a metal (usually copper) cone, with the base of the cone oriented on the target. When the SC detonates, the energy wave created travels through the explosive until it reaches the angled walls of the cone. Once there, the wave's energy vector is redirected to a point just in front of the base of the cone, focusing all of the SC's energy upon a single point, thus reducing the copper cone into a superplastic state and superheated gas, called plasma. This metal plasma jet, traveling at the propagation speed of the explosive used to form the plasma (thousands of meters per second) would then strike the target, burning its way through the metal and spraying the interior of the vehicle with superheated gases and molten metal.
With the Panzerfaust and its brethren, infantry once again held the advantage over armored vehicles. While armor still commanded the open areas, it was a foolish tank commander who ventured too close to a village without infantry support. The SC principle was incorporated into full scale anti-tank cannon munitions to give field artillery, as well as other tanks, an anti armor capability. Known as High Explosive, Anti-Tank (HEAT), these munitions had the benefit of being uniformly effective throughout their entire range. Where the armor penetrating capabilities of a kinetic energy round fell off over distance (as the projectile bled off energy), the HEAT rounds were just as effective at their maximum range as they were at point blank range.
http://www.*************/pics/SoldierTech_EFP6.jpg
In the beginning: The German Panzerfaust (photo from Tankmaster).
ATGMs, Explosive Reactive Armor, and Duplex Weapons: Adapt or Die
While the hand-held SC weapons used by the infantry were the most effective at destroying armored vehicles (a shaped charge warhead will penetrate a thickness of steel equivalent to 150-250% of the warhead's diameter, which made the oversized infantry weapons more effective than cannon launched munitions), their limited range meant that they were a risk that armored formations could manage against - simply avoid built-up areas or limited-visibility terrain where rocket carrying infantry might hide. The introduction of the ATGM (Anti Tank Guided Missile) in the 1950s changed all that.
Carrying a large SC warhead, with a range that in many cases was greater than most tank guns, the ATGM finally gave the infantry the ability to reach out and destroy armored vehicles with impunity. This was not a risk that armor could mitigate; out-ranged and outgunned (you could not hang enough steel on a tank to prevent SC burn-through), the introduction of the ATGM all but signaled the extinction of the tank.
But in 1967, the German research scientist Manfred Held, while in Israel conducting experiments on tanks destroyed during the Six-Day War, discovered that an explosive "counter blast" could greatly reduce the effectiveness of SC weapons; thus, Explosive Reactive Armor (ERA) was born.
ERA, essentially a layer of explosive material sandwiched between metal plates, defeats SC weapons by disrupting and prematurely dissipating the metal plasma jet. Attached as blocks to vulnerable sections of the vehicle, ERA is detonated when the jet from a SC penetrates the outer metal plate. The resulting explosion travels at the same velocity as the plasma jet, but in the opposite direction, disrupting the precise flow of the jet, dispersing its energy and greatly reducing its effectiveness.
Though effective, ERA had its limitations; tanks equipped with ERA posed a serious risk to accompanying infantry who could be killed or injured by the exploding blocks. In addition, ERA was ablative and effective only once, so multiple weapons, or weapons with multiple (duplex) warheads would still be able to destroy a tank by pre-detonating the ERA blocks in one location. Nonetheless, ERA, and the later development of Chobham composite armor in the 1970s, once again neutralized the infantry's advantage over armor on the battlefield.
http://www.*************/pics/SoldierTech_EFP7.jpg
A modern version of the shaped charge warhead: the MGM-164A has a range of about 140 km (87 miles). (Lockheed Martin photo).
continued.....