About the armor of the same M1150 ABV
During the special military operation in Ukraine, our troops often received very interesting trophies in the form of certain examples of Western armored vehicles used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. These include various types of armored cars, infantry fighting vehicles, and even French wheeled vehicles."Tanks" However, the past month turned out to be the richest for the harvest in terms of heavy products of the military industry of NATO countries.
So, somewhere in the Berdychi area, a relatively intact Leopard 2A6 was captured, blown up by a mine and abandoned by its crew. There, in the Avdeevsky direction, a similar fate befell the Abrams M1A1SA - however, its condition after the fire leaves much to be desired.
But perhaps the most talked about foreign beast that fell into the hands of the Russian military was the M1150 ABV assault vehicle.
Yes, one of those “cuttlefish” based on the M1A1 Abrams tank, armed with equipment for remote and contact mine clearance, which Ukraine received last fall. True, the increased interest in it was not caused by the equipment with throwable hoses with explosives and mine trawls, but by the armor package of the turret chine, which was successfully exposed as a result of the separation of the side section of the turret.
Tank armor, but what kind?
The only photo at the time of the car’s capture, which showed the armor filler of the M1150 turret, quickly spread literally all over the world and became the reason for numerous discussions. And, presumably, for a reason: after all, this is the first time that American armor, being intact and not destroyed, as was the case in Iraq, was available for viewing by a wide audience. So to speak, in natural form, without any diagrams.
However, it is under no circumstances worth making hasty conclusions that we have come across modern armor for American tanks. And there are at least two reasons for this.
Firstly, despite the information that comes up every now and then that the M1150, due to its relatively small age (in use in the USA since 2009), was equipped with third or second generation uranium armor components NAR-3 or NAR-2, like the Abrams “, we wouldn’t see it on Ukrainian cars anyway - the Americans don’t allow it abroad. So, if there was uranium in the assault vehicle at all, then before shipment the filler for the turret cheekbones would in any case be replaced with some kind of analogues.
And they could replace it with anything at all. Here it is enough to recall the confusion caused by the marking of M1A1SA turrets for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which, in addition to the digital index, contained the abbreviation UKR (Ukraine). But such familiar letter marks as M/U (indicating the presence of uranium in the armor), E (export without uranium) and A (new special armor without uranium) were missing. Based on this, the tank could have been stuffed with both export armor and completely outdated armor like the classic M1A1 - the situation with the M1150 could be similar.
Digital and letter index of the M1A1SA tank transferred to Ukraine
Secondly, there is a possibility that this armor, shown in the photo, has not changed at all and is native to the M1150 from construction. That is, it does not have any uranium and is not XNUMX% similar to the frontal armor of more or less modern Abrams and did not have it initially.
Nevertheless, the lack of data on the belonging of the armor to a particular generation and class does not at all interfere with the assessment of its general structure, because this package of the tower chine, in the opinion of both our experts and Western ones, has already received the status of a prime candidate for copying, due to its supposed transcendental uniqueness.
Base – “reflective” sheets or NERA
Generally speaking, the public appearance of the M1150 turret armor filler revealed some interesting nuances. And first of all, they relate to some similarity in the composition of the armor with that of the sides of the turret of the old M1 Abrams, the diagram of which was published many years ago on the Internet. You can see it in the image attached below.
As can be seen from the picture presented, the tank's armor package consisted of the outer steel sheets of the turret, behind which was an assembly of "reflective" sheets installed at an angle, a support bracket (with holes) and three almost vertically located armor plates mounted on the rear turret steel sheet.
In the case of the M1150, there is something similar, but with some modifications: instead of the bracket and the armor plate that follows it, there is a second row of “reflective” elements, separated from the first by a thin metal partition. Fortunately, more detailed photographs have recently appeared, and you can see the “interior” in detail - who knows, perhaps this is the kit that is equipped on the sides of the turrets of more modern Abrams.
Close-up photo of the M1150 turret armor package
What are these “reflective” sheets?
The answer to this question is known to most readers interested in armored vehicles. Nevertheless, it is still worth stopping at them.
In the West they are called “non-explosive reactive armor” (Non-Explosive Reactive Armor or NERA), but in our country they are often simply “semi-active” armor or “reflective” / “intumescent” sheets. The purpose of these products is mainly anti-cumulative, and the composition is quite simple: two metal sheets with a layer of compressible elastic material such as rubber, polycarbonate, etc., sandwiched between them.
These designs operate on the principle of using the energy of a cumulative jet against itself.
Namely: the jet, penetrating into the first slab, due to the propagating shock wave, creates stresses, leading first to local swelling of its rear surface, and then to destruction. In this case, significant swelling occurs in the energy-intensive elastic gasket made of rubber, polycarbonate (or other materials) and a second steel sheet.
When the cumulative jet pierces the rubber layer and the second steel plate, the latter already begins to move away from the rear surface of the plate. Since there is a certain angle between the direction of movement of the jet and the second steel sheet, at some point in time the sheet begins to run into the jet, cutting it.
Comparison of explosive dynamic protection (explosive reactive armor) and non-explosive dynamic protection of the “steel + plexiglass + steel” type (inert reactive armor)
One pair of “steel + compressible layer + steel” cannot lead to tangible results, since the head of the cumulative jet manages to pass without damage, and when attacked by powerful cumulative missiles and the majority of the projectiles' stream does not receive any "injuries". Therefore, "reflective" sheets are placed in several pieces - thus, the increase in anti-cumulative resistance can reach 40% in comparison with the same mass of ordinary monolithic steel armor.
It is impossible to give any specific estimates on the equivalent of tower protection against cumulative weapons in this situation. However, with a certain degree of probability it can be assumed that the numbers of this indicator, with the interaction of all components of the armored “sandwich”, start from 500-600 millimeters.
It's more difficult with kinetic ammunition.
Considering that all the NERA sheets in the photo of the M1150 turret have a relatively small thickness, they almost do not work against tank sub-caliber armor-piercing shells made of heavy plastic alloys. More precisely, they do not have more or less tolerable spaced armor, like that of the T-72B in the upper frontal part of the hull, which could stop and destroy strikers of this type.
As for the rest of the content, these are roughly two thick armor plates behind the NERA blocks. Conventionally, because they can be either two solid metal sheets or casings for several thinner steel plates or other filler. You can guess for a long time here, but for solid sheets they have rather strange bruises in the lower parts - as if they were sides.
In any case, we are talking about passive elements, whose role is reduced to parrying the residual armor penetration of a cumulative jet that has passed through the blocks of non-explosive dynamic protection. They are not capable of anything more - resisting powerful kinetic ammunition - due to their relatively small thickness, even taking into account the angle of inclination. And even if there is “magic” ceramics there.
Conclusions
At least two conclusions emerge here.
Firstly, if the M1150’s armor did not change in any way before being sent to Ukraine and is standard for this model, then the unpleasant surprise here is more likely for the operators than for the opponents. It is clear that the complete vehicle should be equipped with dynamic protection, but its armor itself, taking into account the approximate thickness of 380–400 millimeters (measured by craftsmen from photos, so the result is not ideal) and filling most of the volume of NERA, is capable of containing only monoblock cumulative warheads of grenade launchers and anti-tank missiles.
It is not able to withstand the impact of modern sub-caliber shells from tank guns. And this is very strange, since the M1150 is positioned as a front-line weapon, intended, among other things, for making passages in minefields under enemy fire.
Chine of the T-72B turret with “reflective” sheets
Secondly, in our case there is nothing to copy there at all.
This NERA is a rather ancient method of protection, used for many decades by almost all leading countries where tank building is developed. We have actively used it since the mid-80s in the turrets of T-72B tanks. The Germans also used it in the construction of their Leopards 2. The Chinese also use it, and for Israeli Merkavas, assemblies of these anti-cumulative sheets generally form the basis of mounted protective modules.
The only exception in the case of M1150 can be those two “plates” behind the blocks of “reflective” sheets, and even then, provided that they contain something more interesting than ordinary steel of medium or high hardness.
Information