Projectile that penetrated M1A1 Abrams Tank still a mystery

Strategypage.com ^ | Oct 31,2003

[spetznaz]

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 in armor and put a quantity of plasma and molten metal inside the tank.) No known RPG would do that kind of damage. But some Western anti-tank rockets generate a different kind of plasma jet that might create the kind of damage done. A U.S. 25mm armor piercing shell (fired from the gun mounted on the M-2 Bradley armored vehicle) uses a small penetrator, but that penetrator is of depleted uranium, which burns like a flare once it is inside its target. One major unknown is the large number of portable anti-tank weapons (especially Russian and Chinese models) that have not been tested against the M-1 tank. It's not unusual for new weapons to have unpredictable effects once they are first used in combat. Until the army releases more information, if they have any, the mystery lingers.

[OneTimeLurker]

"Um, he's not disrupting... "

Thanks for sticking up for me. Some people get so paranoid/defensive.

[hnorris]

Tell us the diameter of the hole and the total thickness of armor it penetrated. I bet we can calculate the projectiles kinetic energy at impact. That should narrow things down a bit.

[Sloth]

Probably attacked by a rod.

[SGCOS]

Looks like somebody has been using my ex-wifes meatloaf for ammo.

[null and void]

Hole too small to admit a little finger. Say 10mm?

100mm steel at entrance, maybe 10mm on the guard under the main gun, a couple mm on the switch box, I think we can neglect the seat and damage to the flack jacket, and 50 mm into the steel on the other side. Call it a total of 175mm of steel.

Also the other thread said the metalic residue was gold colored. Gold? Copper alloy? Or????

[e_engineer]

All of this information should have been classified, and remained so. If this was caused by an enemy weapon, we have just provided them with exceptionally good intel on the effectiveness of their weapon against our armor.

[Toskrin]

Who releases this impormation? I am always skeptical of the truthfulness of information demonstrating military vulnerabilities. Either this is disinformation designed to make the enemy mistakenly think their weapons are effective, or some Army media people are using very bad judgement.

This could be friendly fire, and we know it.

[null and void]

It was only when I got thus close to it that the strangeness of this object was at all evident to me. At the first glance it was really no more exciting than an overturned carriage or a tree blown across the road. Not so much so, indeed. It looked like a rusty gas float. It required a certain amount of scientific education to perceive that the grey scale of the Thing was no common oxide, that the yellowish-white metal that gleamed in the crack between the lid and the cylinder had an unfamiliar hue. "Extra-terrestrial" had no meaning for most of the onlookers.

[Djarum]

There there now. You sign up two weeks ago and advocate conspiracy theories. I suspect that you don't know what this site is about or are in it for the wrong reasons.

Disruptors are not welcome.

[Panzerfaust]

Here is a link to a picture of a sabot hole put in an Iraqi tank by an M1,in Desert Storm:

http://www.armorinaction.com/TurretSabotHole.JPG

I think the hole in the tank in the article is a lot smaller than this. I sent the link to the story to my friend who owns the http://www.armorinaction.com/ web site. He has put a lot of holes in stuff over the years, so he may be able to give some guidance. When in doubt, consult those who destroy things for a living.

[Panzerfaust]

Next gen of RPG's will be kinetic energy. Imagine a RPG which explodes 20 feet in front of the tank, shooting a DU sabot at the tank at ultra high speed. All for $500. A sixty million dollar tank is toast.

I think the M1 is around $8 million a copy. Still, if you can kill a tank for $500, that's not bad. But I think it will be a mobility kill and not a total kill. The US has excellent tank recovery and repair capabilities.

[Squantos]

Sticking with my SWAG ........AT-4 Spigot.......:o)

Does anyone on the ground in that AO know the answer ?

Stay Safe !

[Panzerfaust]

http://63.99.108.76/ubb/Forum13/HTML/002371.html

This is covered in depth on TankNet. Looks like a tandem warhead RPG

[hadaclueonce]

Excellent Post! Thank you.

[fourscore]

This weapon is, perhaps, a version of the French MILAN anti-tank missile. Col. David Hackworth gives an account of similar damage to Serbian tanks during the Balkan War in 1992 (see _Hazardous Duty_ pp. 108-111).

Quoting Hackworth (p.108):

(p.108)"When I examined the tanks, I found each had been killed by a missile that had burned a hole through the armor. The hole was about the size a pencil would make if you stabbed it through a sheet of paper."


(p.111)..."When I examined the tanks, I found more of the little holes. The missile had melted its way through the armor, changing the air pressure. That alone was enought to kill the crew inside. The metal from the hole is called spalling. It's melted, it's hot, but the minute it's forced into the tank it hardens again ans starts zinging around at a tremendous velocity, slicing through all those young, tender, fleshy bodies.

This was General Tus's secret weapon.

It had to be a modified French Milan missile. I had seen those same telltale holes in Iraqi tanks in the French sector during Desert Storm. But that still left the question of where General Tus was getting them.

The next day I was sitting with another Coration oficer in a cafe just behind the lines. I bought a bottle of the local rotgut and we killed it plus a couple more. When we were both hanging onto the edge of the table, I showed him my magic leter from General Tus [cooperate with him where possible etc.] and told him how much the tank killer program impressed me.

"It's the Milan," he said

The system cost $80,000; each missile cost $20,000. They were getting them from South Africa. The officer raised his glass.

"The South Africans hate the Serbs," he said. "And they love the profits."