Tank cumulative projectile: the principle of action

Fans of playing computerized tank "shot", like real soldiers, do not always think about how a particular ammunition works, the result is important to them. However, the toy battle is different from the real one. In the war, tanks seldom fight among themselves, with proper command of the troops, they are designed to break through the lines of defense of the enemy, mobile coverage of fortified areas and disruption of rear communications. However, and dueling is possible, and then without armor-piercing facilities can not do. Along with the usual "blanks" and subconscious, a cumulative projectile is often used . World Of Tanks is a game, the developers of which tried to convey with the utmost realism the technique of the Second World War and the ammunition used by the armies participating in it. Its conditions do not pretend to full historical certainty, but it gives general ideas about the conditions of tank combat.

In order to properly use the possible arsenal of damaging means, it is not necessary, but it is advisable to know how the cumulative projectile works, what are its main characteristics, and in what cases it should be used, and in what can be confined to less expensive charges.

Tank evolution

The first tanks were slow moving artillery batteries (sometimes with several guns), protected by bulletproof armor. These were analogues of armored trains, with the difference that they could not move on rails, but on rough terrain and, needless to say, along the roads. The evolution of technical solutions led to new ways of using armored vehicles, it became more mobile and adopted some of the functions of cavalry. The most advanced achievements could boast of the Soviet engineering school, which by the end of the thirties of the XX century had come to a general concept defining the shape of a modern tank. All other countries continued to build combat vehicles up to the end of the war in an outdated scheme, with a front transmission, narrow tracks, rivets and carburetor engines. A few large successes in comparison with the United Kingdom and the United States were achieved by Nazi Germany. The engineers who built the Tigers and the Panthers made a number of attempts to increase the durability of their cars by applying inclined booking. The width of the caterpillars was also changed for the Germans according to the conditions of the Eastern Front. Long-barreled guns were another sign that brought the characteristics of the Wehrmacht tanks closer to modern standards. On this progress in the camp of our enemies stopped.

When we had cumulative ammunition

As history showed, world technical thought came to the general ideology of tank building adopted in the USSR only by the mid-fifties. But there were also directions on which the enemy was ahead of us. Already at the beginning of the war, a cumulative projectile was in service with the German troops. The principle of the action of this formidable armor-piercing means, in general, was known to Soviet designers according to intelligence. With the onset of hostilities, it became possible to study trophy samples. But when trying to make copies and analogs, numerous technical difficulties arose. It was not until 1944 that the Soviet Union created its own artillery and tank cumulative projectile capable of penetrating the armor protection of German machines that had increased by that time. Currently, most of the ammunition of each combat unit consists precisely of this type of ammunition.

Difficult situation on the Eastern Front

It should be noted and the fact that at the beginning of the war, it was extremely difficult for the Germans to fight Soviet armored vehicles. All medium, and even more so heavy tanks, which were in service with the Red Army, had reliable anti-ballot bookings, moreover, inclined. The caliber of the tower guns, if they were (and T-1, for example, armed only with a machine gun), was not enough to hit the T-34 or KV. Only our assault aviation, field or antiaircraft artillery that fired, as a rule, with blanks could fight with our tanks. The effectiveness of the application increased if the charge was cumulative. The sub-caliber projectile also had a strong armor-piercing capability, but it was too complicated to produce and required high costs, and Germany, which fought alongside the Eastern Front and at sea, and in Africa, had to save.

The first attempts to create anti-tank weapons

Immediately after the appearance of armored vehicles on the battlefields, the opposing sides faced the question of its destruction or, in extreme cases, causing the greatest damage to it. The usual patron protection did not break, although its layer was not very thick due to the low power of the internal combustion engines of that time (and it was during the First World War). Special armor-piercing ammunition was not yet, they had to be invented. The design capabilities were limited to two factors: cost, on the one hand, and striking - on the other. Thought moved in different directions. The top of it was a cumulative projectile. The principle of operation of different armor-piercing shells will be considered below.

Than armor penetration

To break through the usual sheet armor, you need to concentrate on its area, giving it kinetic energy. The easiest way to do this is with a projectile, which is a solid blank, equipped with a pointed end, crumpled when struck against an obstacle. The condition for the destruction of the obstacle can be a sufficiently strong impulse, causing local overvoltages, exceeding in magnitude the intermolecular bonds of the metal. So they did in the beginning: they shot with blanks, realizing that an explosion, even on the very surface of the armor, is unlikely to affect the live force and mechanisms due to the diffuse nature of the shock wave. The fragments in this case are also practically useless.

Bolvanka cracked the tank

The improvement of armor protection, as well as the use of its inclined arrangement, reduced the effectiveness of a continuous armor-piercing projectile. Getting on the sloping plane, he most often ricocheted, although due to his peculiarities he sometimes proved capable of so-called normalization. It consisted in the fact that after the first touch of the tip the motion vector changed somewhat (up to five degrees), and the angle of impact about the armor became more blunt. This led to a more efficient distribution of the load to the area of the affected defense, and even if the armor did not penetrate right through, an original funnel formed from its inner side, and pieces of metal flew into the car at high speed, crippling and killing the crew. In addition, we should not discount the compression effect, in other words, a strong and rapid change in pressure (in its essence, a powerful blow of the air wave).

Subcaliber tools

A strong steel core, encased in a softer shell, can solve the problem of destruction of armor protection. After hitting this rod as it were outside of its time envelope and strikes a strong blow, concentrated on a small area. Podkalibernikov able to penetrate thick armor, partially preserving the advantages of the projectile-pig. They have their vices, less armor-piercing at long distances and a much more modest angle of normalization (the turn does not exceed two degrees). For all its effectiveness, this ammunition was quite high-tech, expensive, and, moreover, did not always cope with its task. And then there was ...

How does a cumulative projectile

The main drawback of all previous developments in the field of armor-piercing ammunition is expressed in their very name. They are designed to pierce. But this is not enough. Well, they made a hole in the armor, but if the projectile's energy is extinguished, then it can no longer do much damage to the internal mechanisms and crew. The tank can be repaired, brewing a hole, wounded tankmen sent to the hospital, the dead buried with honors, and the car again sent to battle. However, all this becomes impossible if a cumulative projectile hits the armor. The principle of its operation lies in the fact that after burning a hole, a bursting charge destroys everything that seemed securely protected.

Device

At present, there is no more effective means for fighting tanks than a cumulative projectile. World Of Tanks offers gamers to buy them only for "gold", referring these virtual ammunition to "gold". And no wonder, with a successful hit they guarantee the destruction of the target. To spend them on the opponents who do not possess a sufficiently high degree of protection, it is not necessary. If you can use the usual "backup", that is, an armor-piercing projectile, then it is recommended to use it. Learn how to buy a cumulative projectile, easily, having read the terms of the game, but it is recommended not to waste it, but at the right time it just will not be enough. But these are all games, but in real battle ...

The universal principle of concentration has been successfully applied in the device of the cumulative munition. On a small area of the primary contact, a jet of a gas heated to the plasma state arises, which, like a welding apparatus, burns a hole. Thermal action is accompanied by penetration inside the protected space of the main charge, tearing already under the armor and carrying the main destruction. This principle is used in the device of manual "Faustpatrona", widely used at the end of the Second World War. The RPG cumulative projectile also works. However, tank builders also learned to struggle with this problem.

Counteracting the cumulative explosion

The first samples of armored explosive munitions were designed for armor protection, used on tanks of the Second World War, and it was unpretentious. Nothing prevented the jet of hot gas from acting on the metal layer, it arose immediately after the impact. The simplest countermeasure is the creation of conditions for premature operation of the thermite component of the charge. To do this, it is enough to create an external layer of "false" - and the jet instead of metal will heat the air.

The second method is applicable for any tanks created without taking into account the capabilities of the cumulative projectiles. It is necessary to disperse the concentrated flow by a small counter-explosion, for which it is possible to place trotyl in special boxes on the outer surface of the machine. Today this method is used widely enough.

The third method is used in tanks of the latest generation, in which integrated armored technology is used. Modern protection is multi-layered, it alternates ceramic fillers, explosive investigators and heavy-duty sheet armor.

Tandem shells

There is no such protection that can not be overcome at all. To replace the usual "burnt" armor after the emergence of countermeasures came tandem cumulative projectile. The principle of its operation differs from the classical one in that the termite and main warheads are spaced along the length, and if the first step falsely works, then the second one will definitely achieve the goal. At present anti-tank weapons with two and three charges are known. The direction of the thermite jets in some models (mainly Russian) are shifted relative to each other, so that they do not interfere with each other. This provides the ability to punch up to 800 mm of modern protection.

This is a cumulative projectile. War Thunder, World Of Tanks and other similar computer games give a general idea of the features of the use of this munition and its characteristics. It will be better if this knowledge will remain useful only for gamers for their virtual battles.