If it failed to penetrate, why did the crew member bail out?
This is a re-post different source but the hatches were open an the laser system is shut off in that case. Someone said that the officer lost his head, and someone else said the bailing crew lost an arm - I couldn’t see either.
Ill trained crew - stationary too long, hatches open in combat zone, etc.
Crew likely was used to T-60s or T-70s which would have been a fatal hit and was reacting to that.
That the video cuts off after the hit and that there was no smoke coming from the gun barrel indicates no penetration and the tank may have returned fire, obliterating the TOW I crew.
Normal reaction time from TOW detection by tank to tank response is like 2-5 seconds - EOL TOW crew.
I suspect their ears were ringing and GTFO was uppermost on the mind after the hit. Find out if all body parts are still attached, then proceed?
That's what I was thinking. Why would you leave your armored combat vehicle in a war zone unless you had to?
Because if it did penetrate, he would have ceased to exist.
Spalling. it hurts. it kills.
Mission kill, not actual destruction - i.e., the tank is damaged, not destroyed, but is unable to continue to fight without repairs. Or at least the crewmember thought it was.
My guess is the electronics got knocked out from the concussion.
“If it failed to penetrate, why did the crew member bail out?”
You gotta get out of the tank to take a dump. He must have felt a sudden “urge.”