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A-10 cannot penetrate modern armor with it's gun. It had difficulty with T-72 when it was designed and could only kill them from the rear.
by kosmic_k 11y ago
A-10 cannot penetrate modern armor with it's gun. It had difficulty with T-72 when it was designed and could only kill them from the rear.
- PythonicAlpha 11y agoThe A-10 cannon is not comparable with that of a modern tank. Just compare the numbers: A-10: 30mm Gatling M1 Abrams (and other comparable tanks): 120mm (Russland's newest tank has a 140mm gun as much I remember) That is a huge difference! The only advantage of the Gatling is the high firing rate -- but it is definitively no match for the armor of a modern main battle tank. I also never implied that. When the A-10 was designed, tank armor was less advanced and today the A-10 is mostly fighting against light to medium armored targets. Many countries even in their regular army have still very old tanks in service.
- Retric 11y agoYou also get to add the forward velocity of the aircraft so it's Mass * (v1 + v2) ^2. Arguably the largest advantage of the A-10 is it keeps tank designs 'honest' as it's free to engage from just about any angle which forces tanks to add quite a bit more armor.
- PythonicAlpha 11y agoThat is right. Most tanks are designed, that the frontal armor is the thickest and many of the WW2 tanks where very weak at the top. They where basically designed for frontal tank vs. tank (or anti-tank) attacks. Today's tanks have to take air attacks into account -- with much better top armor but also better armor at the other sides too. Your calculation is right, I guess, but still 120mm has just overwhelmingly more hitting power than 30mm rounds.
- walshemj 11y agoer that is the type of engament that the a10 is designed for top attacks on the thin armour - just as the ww2 stuka with 37 mm wasn't firing at the thick armour but the weaker top armour