Post by oldhippy on Nov 1, 2019 10:37:23 GMT
Why did the Chinese HJ-8 destroy American M-1 tanks so easily in Iraq and Yemen?
We can break this down into an assortment of reasons.
Poor armor
But the M1A2SEPv3 has such ridiculously strong armor I hear you say. You are right, but you forget you are talking about the newest American model, not the export models sold to Saudi Arabia. The M1A1 with DU armor massively increases the resistance against both the RHA equivalent against CE warheads like that of the HJ-8 and against KEPs. Without DU you would get far less, especially notable in the turret sides.
US tanks use the TUSK II kit to improve their survivability in urban combat where a side or rear shot with an recoilless rifle, rocket, missile, or shaped charge IED is more likely. Included below are the M19 and M32 ERA used
The US currently relies on 3 systems to defend the Abrams tanks from missiles aside from its ridiculously strong armor in the frontal arc
The AN/VLQ 6 to jam SACLOS missiles like the Kornet
The AN/VLQ 8 to jam IR guided missiles like the Kh-25
Trophy is a hard-kill system the US recently procured for its M1A2SEPv3 fleet which can destroy RPGs and missiles before they strike the tank
included below is a video of an M1A2S being struck in the rear. It isn’t an HJ-8 I don’t think but it doesn’t really matter as the result would have been the same. A rear aspect hit with the HJ-8 would penetrate any modern tank, the American model Abrams included, much less the Saudi version
This could stem from poor situational awareness as Saudis wouldn't knowingly face their rear to the enemy
Poor support
In every video of Turkish or Saudi tanks being destroyed a common trend is that the tanks are isolated with little if any support from other tanks and infantry
DU is depleted uranium. Uranium has two very common isotopes, U-235 and U-238. U-235 is easier to split in nuclear fission and is what is used in nuclear reactors and weapons. U-238 is much harder to split and has a longer half life meaning it decays at a much slower rate. Natural uranium has a high U-238 content and a low U-235 content. For most nuclear reactors and all nuclear warheads the U-235 content isn’t high enough and so the uranium metal is “enriched” whereby it is stripped of some of its U-238 leaving uranium metal with a higher concentration of U-235. The almost pure U-238 is the by product and is what we call depleted uranium. It can be alloyed with various metals or substances. Uranium carbide is what is used in tank shells and tank armour. It is incredibly dense and thus a penetrator trying to force its way through DU will meet a lot of resistance, sapping away a lot of its kinetic energy.
CE is chemical energy. I’m referring to high explosive anti tank projectiles or explosively formed penetrators
I don’t think KE is mentioned but it stands for kinetic energy. Basically a modern armor piercing fin stabilized discarding sabot round used by a tank to engage another tank. These projectiles have zero explosive filler and use the energy of their mass moving at a ridiculously high speed to force their way through armor, generate heat upon impact, and ignite fuel and ammunition once inside.
APS is active protection system. It’s a method of actively seeking out incoming projectiles and doing something to negate their threat. Trophy is an Israeli APS which uses projectiles to shoot down incoming rockets and missiles.
IR is infrared light. Hot objects emit a lot of IR and thus IR guided missiles are also known as heat seeking missiles.
TUSK stands for Tank Urban Survival Kit. It incorporates things like a remotely operated weapons station for the commander, slat armor over the rear of the hull, and the aforementioned explosive reactive armor.
AN/VLQ is simply a designation. Similar to how all fighters are given the designation F followed by a number. AN means “Army-Navy” as they were the first to agree upon this system. the first letter after the slash indicates the platform that uses the system (A for aircraft, S for surface ships, V for land vehicles, P for portable meaning handheld). The second letter denotes system type, L being for a jammer. The third letter denotes purpose, Q being for combination as this system is only part of the countermeasure complex as a whole. Ship and aircraft jammers have the “SLQ” or “ALQ” designation.
