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This is improvised slat armor[0]. It is intended as defense against projectiles that use shaped charges[1] which are most effective when detonated at a designed
by mauvehaus 5y ago
This is improvised slat armor[0]. It is intended as defense against projectiles that use shaped charges[1] which are most effective when detonated at a designed distance from the target. The slat armor is meant to detonate them at a larger than optimal distance.
It is not expected to defend against all weapons, rather it's part of defense in depth. Whether it's effective against shaped charge projectiles will largely depend on the construction and spacing of the slats. To dismiss it outright displays a pretty shocking level of ignorance or agenda on the part of TFA.
Edited to add:
I read T-entire-FA via the archive link up-thread. There is meaningful discussion of slat armor in it. I remain convinced that there's room in the taster portion of the article to suggest that the improvised armor isn't a purely ignorant addition to the tanks. I would further suspect that hinting at substantive analysis below the fold stands to sell more subscriptions to The Economist than what they've included, which is, at best, one-sided.
[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slat_armor https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slat_armor
[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaped_charge https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaped_charge
- madaxe_again 5y agoDid you read TFA? It talks about all of that.
- mauvehaus 5y agoI read the part that was viewable without a subscription, which we can fairly safely guess is all that most people will read. I realize that they have limited space for content in the "free" part of the article, but to leave it as one-sided as that doesn't give me a lot of faith that the rest of the reporting is any more substantive.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 5y agoThis. We called them "rpg cages" in Afghanistan. It causes the explosively formed penetrator to detonate prematurely.
- nilstycho 5y agoThat is not correct. See here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30687077 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30687077
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 5y agoVery interesting, tanks for sharing.
- nilstycho 5y agoBoooo
- nilstycho 5y agoYour explanation of how slat armor works is incorrect; the article's explanation is correct. It is not intended to detonate charges at a suboptimal distance. Indeed, when it does detonate charges, the distance can make the charge even more potent. Instead, it is intended to short the fuse of certain RPGs, preventing detonation. You can read more about statistical armor here: https://www.tanknology.co.uk/post/statistical-armour https://www.tanknology.co.uk/post/statistical-armour