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To: 11B3
The shockwave from one of those Javelins on the human body must be killer.

I've heard some stories about how impressive shockwave effect can be, even from a Deagle. And there was a report from this Iraq War about an Abrams tank firing a round down a street to suck Iraqi Fedayeen out of the adjoining alleys.
4 posted on 09/28/2003 7:57:13 PM PDT by Ex-Dem (Better a traitor to the DNC than a traitor to America.)
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To: Ex-Dem
I heard a story from Panama and Operatation Just Because--seems that a platoon from the 82nd had a problem with a "dingbat" (member of Noriegia's "Dignity Battalion" irregulars) holed up in an upper floor of a building.

A Sheridan arrives, they load HEAT into the breach, and let fly.

KABOOM!

They never did find the sniper, just what was left of his AK-47, and that looked like a modern art masterpiece.

Two blocks later, a sniper actually shoots at the Sheridan, and scratches the paint.

The commander loads another HEAT round and fires it into the base of the building (four-story). The entire damn building just kind of shivers, and then collapses.

13 posted on 09/28/2003 8:52:12 PM PDT by Poohbah ("[Expletive deleted] 'em if they can't take a joke!" -- Major Vic Deakins, USAF)
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To: Ex-Dem
It can be done with an MPAT round set a certain way. Fire it strait down the street and it would concuss the hell out of any sniper/RPG bubbas in the surrounding bildings. Then you are just looking for all the guys with blood coming out the ears. There is a challenge with that: it targets everyone in the area, bad guys and any civilians left.
regards,
16 posted on 09/28/2003 9:10:02 PM PDT by Thunder 6
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To: Ex-Dem
The shockwave from one of those Javelins on the human body must be killer.

The shaped charge from a HEAT warhead offers three effects on those inside: immediate death or stunning from the overpressure of the concussion of the directed jet from a kilo or more of high explosive; the liquified droplets of molten armor and shattered spall of interior armor erosded away in the blast, spall liners notwithstanding. At 8000+ feet persecond those chips and shards sandblast the inside of the vehicle and those inside it to rags. And thirdly, those effects combine to produce secondary explosions, rupture fixed fire extinguishers and hydraulic accumulators and their lines, and worst of all, igniting ammunition propellent, hydraulic fuel, and anything ignitable, including the crewmen.

The effects are reduced considerably in open-topped vehicles, one reason the Israelis found the WWII former US White and IH halftracks so useful for so long, and one reason the M8 turretted *Grayhound* 6x6 armored car in US service was replaced/augmented by the open-topped M20 version. Tank destroyers were also usually open-topped as well; this also helped with crew egress and survival when one did catch a round that penetrated the turret. Of course, you have to survive the initial blast to have the followon problem of getting out of the burning wreck that a moment ago was an expensive fighting machine.

Note that in photos of the Russians in Chechnya, those aboard BTR 60/70/80 series 8-wheel armoured cars and on tracked BMD personnel carriers are usually riding on the outside. Again, there are several reasons, one being a quicker response should the riders be needed on the ground and the horribly hot condition of the interior in summer or early fall. But should they encounter a mine or take an RPG rocket hit, much of the blast and fragmentation will vent upwards through the open crew hatches of the BTR, BMD, or M113. And if the vehicle doesn't roll over them, some may have a chance of surviving.

Count on Stryker crews being told to wear their body armor and helmets, and die inside.

-archy-/-

50 posted on 09/29/2003 12:12:37 PM PDT by archy (Keep in mind that the milk of human kindness comes from a beast that is both cannibal and a vampire.)
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