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> for close-in defense of tanks against massed assaulting infantry attack Do modern tanks frequently face massed infantry charges? (I know, I'm being way too

> for close-in defense of tanks against massed assaulting infantry attack Do modern tanks frequently face massed infantry charges? (I know, I'm being way too literal, I was just amused by the image of a bunch of guys with Lee-Enfield rifles and pot helmets surging out of a trench to assault an Abrams.)

greedo 8y ago
Until recently, there was no suitable ammo for the main gun of the Abrams to counter infantry. It has multiple machine guns, but there are times when you really want to make a point.
- PhasmaFelis 8y ago
  Maybe this is a dumb question, but would an HE round in the general area not get the point across? (I just googled for the ammo types available to the Abrams, and I learned that the latest-version multipurpose HEAT round has a fucking anti-aircraft mode, which enables a proximity fuse and a puff of black smoke on detonation, so you can track your shot WW2 flak-style. I know it's for helicopters, not planes, but still. Crazy.)
  - steve19 8y ago
    Same reason people use a shotgun for home defense not a grenade! Limited penetration. much lower required accuracy. If you miss you don't send a shell in a random direction. You can shoot at targets very close to the tank barrel.
  - greedo 8y ago
    At the time, there were only two main gun rounds, APFSDS and HEAT. Both are designed for destroying armored vehicles, and don't really explode like a Hollywood artillery round. APFSDS fires a DU dart at it's target, and HEAT is a shaped charged designed to penetrate armor with a plasma jet.
roel_v 8y ago
Wasn't that one of the main MOP's for Russian infantry to attack German tanks in WW2? Run up to it, stick a grenade in a weak spot, run away as fast as you could? I assume modern tanks would be quite different from WW2 tanks, but still - someone has done it before.
- bacon_waffle 8y ago
  My grandad drove a wrecker in a tank destroyer group in WWII, deployed to Europe. He didn't talk much about it until his mind was on the way out, but said one of the more effective techniques to disable tanks was dumping gas on the engine intake.
- int_19h 8y ago
  Soviets did improvise a lot of anti-tank weaponry, but that's because they didn't have anything decent in service for pretty much the entirety of the war. Their standard-issue anti-tank rifles were so underpowered, the crews were instructed to shoot at the observation slits, and if those weren't accessible, then at the antenna (to at least disable the radio). These days, infantry taking on a tank would just use an RPG or an ATGM.

greedo 8y ago

Until recently, there was no suitable ammo for the main gun of the Abrams to counter infantry. It has multiple machine guns, but there are times when you really want to make a point.

PhasmaFelis 8y ago
Maybe this is a dumb question, but would an HE round in the general area not get the point across? (I just googled for the ammo types available to the Abrams, and I learned that the latest-version multipurpose HEAT round has a fucking anti-aircraft mode, which enables a proximity fuse and a puff of black smoke on detonation, so you can track your shot WW2 flak-style. I know it's for helicopters, not planes, but still. Crazy.)
- steve19 8y ago
  Same reason people use a shotgun for home defense not a grenade! Limited penetration. much lower required accuracy. If you miss you don't send a shell in a random direction. You can shoot at targets very close to the tank barrel.
- greedo 8y ago
  At the time, there were only two main gun rounds, APFSDS and HEAT. Both are designed for destroying armored vehicles, and don't really explode like a Hollywood artillery round. APFSDS fires a DU dart at it's target, and HEAT is a shaped charged designed to penetrate armor with a plasma jet.

roel_v 8y ago

Wasn't that one of the main MOP's for Russian infantry to attack German tanks in WW2? Run up to it, stick a grenade in a weak spot, run away as fast as you could? I assume modern tanks would be quite different from WW2 tanks, but still - someone has done it before.

bacon_waffle 8y ago
My grandad drove a wrecker in a tank destroyer group in WWII, deployed to Europe. He didn't talk much about it until his mind was on the way out, but said one of the more effective techniques to disable tanks was dumping gas on the engine intake.
int_19h 8y ago
Soviets did improvise a lot of anti-tank weaponry, but that's because they didn't have anything decent in service for pretty much the entirety of the war. Their standard-issue anti-tank rifles were so underpowered, the crews were instructed to shoot at the observation slits, and if those weren't accessible, then at the antenna (to at least disable the radio). These days, infantry taking on a tank would just use an RPG or an ATGM.