Putting 'armor' on a tank

With strong firepower and great destructive ability, in combat, tanks are always one of the first targets to be destroyed by the enemy.

To protect tanks from anti-tank shaped-charge ammunition, Vietnamese military engineers have successfully created explosive reactive armor that is worn on the outside to protect tanks.

Tank Brigade 201 during a training session. Photo: XUAN THUY

Conquer a series of challenges

Major Nguyen Vu Hung (head of the explosives technology design and application department of the Institute of Propellants and Explosives, General Department of Defense Industry) said that in combat, tanks are one of the weapons with strong firepower and great ability to destroy the enemy.

Therefore, it is also one of the top targets that the enemy wants to destroy first in order to destroy the enemy's strength. In the world, people have manufactured very modern anti-tank shaped-charge bullets such as B41, B41M, PG-9...

“For a long time, we have cherished the idea of ​​creating explosive reactive armor that can be worn on the outside of tanks, covering vulnerable areas and neutralizing bullets fired at tanks. It took a long time for the team to successfully create explosive reactive armor to protect tanks,” said Major Hung.

The top goal of the group of experts and engineers at the Institute of Propellants and Explosives is that this "armor" must protect the tank from hollow-point bullets and must be resistant to the phenomenon of contagion, meaning that when shot at a part of the armor, only that part will explode, without spreading to other parts.

The difficulty is to find the explosive composition suitable for the purpose and combat requirements. When the mass of the armor increases, it will certainly affect the tank's mobility on the battlefield. On the battlefield, the more mobile the tank is, the less likely it is to be destroyed.

So how much does armor weigh so that it does not affect the tank's mobility and combat capabilities? "Armor" is essentially modules made from steel shells and explosives assembled together.

So how thick and long should the module be? What are the components of the explosive to have mechanical strength but when impacted, the armor will not explode and protect the tank from fire? And how can the armor prevent the phenomenon of explosion?...

A series of difficult questions challenged the team of experts and engineers who carried out this project. The team also set a requirement that the “armor” must be easy to replace. When a bullet explodes, soldiers can easily and quickly replace the exploded module.

Senior Lieutenant Hoang Trung Kien - Deputy Head of the Department of Technology Design and Explosive Materials Application - said: “Before that, we had never held a module of explosive reactive armor in our hands to know how round or wrinkled it was. This is a national secret, and even if we bought it, people might not accept it. The group had no choice but to search for information on the Internet. But we could only see the external shape, not knowing the thickness or the material used. At first, we only studied the theory based on the experience of experts at the institute.

We built dozens of plans to do it, but the direction was not clear because we were groping and no one in Vietnam had done this before. Later, more information was opened, collecting information from articles on the Internet in English and Russian. But all that they published was only to a certain extent, only providing information at the reference level."

The superiority of generation 2 "armor"

After many tests, at times seemingly at a standstill, by 2009 the group had created the first generation of reactive armor. The journey to test the product was equally arduous. Because tanks are one of the great assets and equipment of the army. It was not easy to get a real tank to take out for testing.

At first, the group had to shoot statically: B41 bullets were fired at steel targets that were fake tanks, with the same thickness as real tanks, without “armor”. Then B41 anti-tank hollow-piercing bullets were fired at steel targets covered with “armor” on the outside! The armor exploded but the target inside was not damaged. But the first time, the bullet penetration was very high. The tank shell was 80-100mm thick depending on the position. The requirement of the “armor” was to stop the hollow-piercing bullets from penetrating up to 80mm to protect the crew inside.

After dozens of adjustments and static firing, the penetration ability of the B41 bullet on the “armor” gradually decreased and finally reached the allowable level. Senior Lieutenant Hoang Trung Kien said that when the departmental test was the day of firing on a real tank with the armor of the manufacturing team, everyone was very nervous. Because at that time the “armor” was just “worn” on a real tank. That day, there were even specialized gunners who tested it in two batches. The first batch was anti-tank ammunition fired from a distance of 100m. The second batch was infantry ammunition fired from a distance of 200-300m.

After much suspense and waiting in tension, the results of the live-fire test on the group's explosive reactive armor were evaluated as successful. This "armor" protects tanks from B41 bullets or bullets of similar size or smaller. Although the goal of B41 bulletproofing was achieved, the first generation armor did not completely solve the problem. The mass was too heavy (2,500-3,000kg), affecting the movement and difficult assembly.

“We want to improve. The results show that the group's direction is correct, so we are confident in continuing to research phase 2. Up to now, we have successfully manufactured the 2nd generation "armor" to protect tanks against more powerful ammunition than B41 such as B72 shoulder-fired anti-tank missiles and equivalent ammunition. In particular, the weight of the 2nd generation armor is only over 1,000kg. When the armor is lighter, the ability to disassemble and assemble quickly and simply increases the combat capability of the tank" - Senior Lieutenant Trung Kien said.

According to TTO