Posted on 08/15/2006 12:59:18 PM PDT by BunnySlippers
One of the major military surprises of the fighting in Lebanon has been the apparent vulnerability of Israeli armour to Hezbollah anti-tank rockets.
---
The AT-13 Metis or Saxhorn is a modern tube-launched successor to the Sagger.
Its tandem-shaped warhead can punch through armour of up to 46cm (18 inches) thick.
The tandem warhead is designed to counter reactive armour as used on many Israeli vehicles.
Reactive armour is essentially made up of explosive pads or bricks on the outside of the tank which explode outwards when hit by an incoming missile.
This disrupts the effect of the missile warhead, which needs to impact upon the surface of the tank to achieve its penetrative effect.
A twin or tandem charge is designed to get around this.
The first warhead triggers the reactive armour and the second penetrates the tank.
Hezbollah is also reported to have used the RPG-29; a shoulder-fired weapon, again with a tandem charge.
---
The Kornet has been exported by the Russians to only a few countries, including Syria.
And all the evidence suggests that the Syrians have passed them on to Hezbollah.
Israel is so concerned that it has despatched a team of officials to Moscow to show the Russians the evidence of what they say can only be Syrian weapons transfers.
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
The reactive armor needs to be modified, to deflect in skewed fashion, than radially outwards. That way the second tandem charge, while surviving the reactive explosion, will get turned up, and essentially will fire its slug of hot metal...off target.
Agreed. I love the smell of napalm in the morning.
The sooner we use daisycutters to clear out southern lebanon (and all of iraq) the better.
Yeah, but the Israelis were supposed to have some pretty sophisticated armor too. They were surprised by the new weaponry being deployed by Hezbollah guerillas.
No doubt the Pentagon is staying awake nights trying to measure the new threat.
Good news. They fly over our place here at Lake of the Ozarks every week.
The USAF is not about to retire the A-10. It is undergoing upgrade and will serve for the next 20 years or so.
These AT weapons are described as penetrating 460 mm of standard steel armor. In the late 80s, IIRC the TOW was publicly rated at 1300mm of armor, which would usually come through the front of an Abrams (of that time)...but the previous 900mm rated version of the TOW would mess up the crews day, but not come through.
They (USAF Brass) tried to get rid of it several times. It just works too well, I guess.
You Sir have the answer, if it will only be employed. Sure can't hurt Israel's PR anymore then it is and they've played nice.
You are welcome.
Love that Teddy Roosevelt quote!
I'm sure they will be studying their "dead armor" and make improvements. I like the idea of meeting only dead enemy, especially ones that want to die. See Little Ray's excellent plan above.
OTOH, it seems quite clear that Syria has given Hezbollah the most advanced Russian anti-tank weapons, including Kornets. That doesn't mean the Merkava isn't a terrific tank.
Olmert's kid-glove tactics neutralized the best defense against ATGM's - lightening armor strikes from unpredictable directions combined with very aggressive air and infantry attacks (we called it the Air-Land Battle, but the Army uses different buzzwords today).
Just page on through, I think we covered 'em all.
I think the archive search doesn't last long so you may have to go to the FR front page, click on the Foxhole button and do an archive search for Treadhead Tuesday. Or google it!
Here's just the Merkava
The FReeper Foxhole's TreadHead Tuesday -Israeli Merkava - Main Battle Tank - Mar 23rd, 2004
You're absolutely right. You suppress enemy anti-tank teams with tons of artillery and MG fire while the tanks roll in with APC's right behind.
Everyone go read "Red Storm Rising" if you haven't already.
So that's what a PFC Ping looks like?
The Merkava is an Excellent armoured vehicle.
The problem is the way that Israel was using them in this conflict.
Tanks need Infantry for support, you do not send tanks alone into a war zone, because they will be hit with antitank rockets etc from enemy infantry. You need infantry to back up the tanks and to take out the enemy foot soldiers that would take out the tanks. Those soldiers are not nearly as mobile as lightly armed infantry, and therefore are easily taken out by lightly armed infantry.
Also, Hezbollah was launching these rockets from 3 to 5 story buildings, when firing down on a tank, you are hitting some of it's lightest armor, and will take it out, because a tank is built to take on other tanks on the same horizontal plane, and from the front.
A tank is an offensive weapon, it's heaviest armour is on the front, and the front of the turret. Hitting it from above, or from behind, will take the tank out, because it takes much lighter munitions to do it.
A tank cannot be armoured all the way around, it would be unable to move, some wieght restriction are inherent in the dsign, therefore, the heaviest armor will be where it will most likely be hit in offensive operations by other tanks.
The merkava is one of the most advanced tanks in the world, but it does have some weak points, as do all tanks.
Of course the TOW is a lot bigger missile than that little shoulder launched RPG-29. It's bigger than the others too. Hzb'allah also has some TOW clones manufactured by the Iranians. About like those late 80's TOWS you mention.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.