[Cannoneer No. 4]

Reactive armor defeats shaped charges.

[Darksheare]

I still remember getting stuck in Fort Drum sand watching tracked vehicles running by us.

The downside to reactive armor is that any dismounted infantry will be cut to ribbons by the fragments of the metal plates that the reactive armor uses. Kinetic energy penetrators aren't effected much by reactive armor, unless you thicken the metal plates on the reactive armor, which reduces it's effectiveness against shaped charge HEAT rounds. I do NOT envy the designers their job for that!
They have to balance out the threats that are likely to come against it, offer the best protection available, and not be too much of a threat to your own dismounted infantry.

But it does work.