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A mysterious green cantaloupe-sized metal ball with an unknown firing device, found in 2005 by GIs and a freelance journalist in Mosul, Iraq, is confounding weapons experts trying to pinpoint its origin. Dubbed "Mystery Weapon 2" by Iraq-based journalist Michael Yon, the orb was found under a barn among a weapons stockpile that was later destroyed by the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment. "If there's anything that, honest to God, could have nefarious overtones, it's that, because nobody was able to tell what it was," Yon said.

Below and in the following pages is the official report on the August, 2003 incident in Iraq where the side armor of an American M-1 tank was penetrated by an RPG round. Two members of the crew suffered minor injuries and no serious damage was done to the tank. The weapon used was apparently a Russian RPG warhead specially designed to penetrate composite armor. In 1988 the Soviet Union weapons organization "Bazalt" was the first in the world to develop a antitank grenade launcher round capable of penetrating composite armor, as well as screened armor and explosive reactive armor. This...

http://www.sciscoop.com/story/2003/11/3/171841/084 The M1A1 Abrams tank is widely acknowledged to be the best tank in the world. It weighs just shy of 70 tons and much of that weight is armor to protect the vehicle and its crew. There are two main threats against a tank: HEAT (High Explosive Anti-Tank) rounds and KE (Kinetic Energy) rounds. To greatly oversimplify, HEAT rounds produce a blob of super-hot molten metal that cuts through armor like a torch; KE rounds have long, slender dart-like projectiles that punch through armor like a bullet. The structural armor of the tank is designed to stop KE rounds...

<p>Shortly before dawn on Aug. 28, an M1A1 Abrams tank on routine patrol in Baghdad “was hit by something” that crippled the 69-ton behemoth. Army officials still are puzzling over what that “something” was.</p> <p>According to an unclassified Army report, the mystery projectile punched through the vehicle’s skirt and drilled a pencil-sized hole through the hull. The hole was so small that “my little finger will not go into it,” the report’s author noted.</p>

I hadn't seen these posted, and I hadn't even heard about this incident until finding these photos. In Iraq, a US 4th Infantry Division tank was destroyed (and two of the four man crew killed) when they rolled over three anti-tank mines, buried in the road, one on top of another. It sounds to me just like the method the Palis used to knock out a Merkava - so either the Palis have come to Iraq, or they have trained someone who is there.These photos are a little hard to look at, but unfortunately it needs to be done. I...

Shortly before dawn on Aug. 28, an M1A1 Abrams tank on routine patrol in Baghdad “was hit by something” that crippled the 69-ton behemoth. Army officials still are puzzling over what that “something” was. According to an unclassified Army report, the mystery projectile punched through the vehicle’s skirt and drilled a pencil-sized hole through the hull. The hole was so small that “my little finger will not go into it,” the report’s author noted. The “something” continued into the crew compartment, where it passed through the gunner’s seatback, grazed the kidney area of the gunner’s flak jacket and finally came...

The "Mystery Projectile" that caused the penetration of an M-1 tanks side armor was probably a Russian RPG-7V or similar type. This is an improved version with wave shaper in the HEAT warhead. The pictures (see here)  of the penetration show classic HEAT warhead circular flash and light material splash (aluminum or similar from outer warhead casing) in a roughly circular area and at between 500 - 800 mm radius around the penetration hole. It also seems as if the entry hole on the skirt plate has a ragged and enlarged hole. This is consistent with wave shaped warheads that...

<p>The Army is investigating whether pro-Saddam insurgents have a new mystery weapon that can disable the powerhouse M1AI Abrams tank - while leaving only a pencil-size hole in the hull. The Army Times reported yesterday that commanders in Iraq have grown alarmed about the prospect that exotic new weaponry may be in the hands of the death squads after one of the 69-ton workhorse tanks was disabled while on patrol in Baghdad Aug. 28.</p>

WASHINGTON -- A mystery munition knocked a U.S. Army M1A1 Abrams tank out of commission in Iraq, leading the Pentagon to question whether the terrorists have a secret weapon in their arsenal. An unclassified Army report says a projectile punched through the vehicle and drilled a pencil-sized hole through the hull. The hole was so small that, according to the author's report, "my little finger will not go into it." The Abrams tank is nearly invulnerable to attack. Only two have been disabled by enemy fire during the entire Iraq campaign, according to the Army Times. The other one was...

October 31, 2003: The U.S. Army is not saying much about the "mystery projectile" that went through the side skirts and side armor of an M-1A1 tank last August 28th. Whatever it was just barely missed the tanks gunner (it went through the back of his seat and grazed part of his flak jacket) and put a pencil size hole nearly 50mm deep into the four inch thick armor on the other side of the tank. The damage may have been done by a projectile, not a shaped charge (which uses a jet of super-hot plasma to burn a hole...

<p>Shortly before dawn on Aug. 28, an M1A1 Abrams tank on routine patrol in Baghdad “was hit by something” that crippled the 69-ton behemoth. Army officials still are puzzling over what that “something” was.</p> <p>According to an unclassified Army report, the mystery projectile punched through the vehicle’s skirt and drilled a pencil-sized hole through the hull. The hole was so small that “my little finger will not go into it,” the report’s author noted.</p>