What on earth could do this?!?

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The seperation towards the end of its path (going from one hole into several holes in the gun breech guard) indicates it was a HEAT warhead. Most likely an RPG-7.

The total depth of armour in that location is maybe 80mm-100mm, and it was just bad luck that the RPG hit a seam on the outer skirts.

Jeremy
 
That took some SERIOUS speed! :what:


I think we just played guinea pig to somebody's new tank round. This is Not Good.
 
The seperation towards the end of its path (going from one hole into several holes in the gun breech guard) indicates it was a HEAT warhead. Most likely an RPG-7.
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Negative. High Explosive Anti Tank rounds are basically a flying shaped charge. They penetrate by burning a hole, and the hot gases expand with explosive force inside the target. Had that been a HEAT round, the crew would have been toast, and there would not be any solid projectile damage as was showed on those picture. Molten metal would have spashed around, but there would have been more impacts than shown, and there would have been no penetration of the far side.


That was a solid projectile.
 
The multiple impacts are probably spalling (is that spelled right?), caused when the projectile "drags" metal from the impact area along with it.

Kharn
 
Proly wus one 'o them .50 Cal rounds that Tom Diaz at the VPC is always yammerin about. them thingz can take out a satalagmite at near 'bout 50 miles, yessir. that ain't no lie neither
 
Negative. High Explosive Anti Tank rounds are basically a flying shaped charge. They penetrate by burning a hole, and the hot gases expand with explosive force inside the target.
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No. A HEAT warhead uses a shaped charge to explosively form, and then propel forward a conical metal liner. The liner is compressed down into a thin rod of metal that is certainly not a gas (almost molten, but not a gas). The rod pushes through armour as a near solid, it does not burn through.
Most older HEAT warheads used copper for the liner, but the newer ones use various other metals. Some current US HEAT warheads use depleted uranium as a liner.

Take a look at the first picture, where the side skirt was hit, do you notice the large scorch mark on it?, That is exactly the mark of an explosion taking place in contact with the skirt. So we can say for certain that the penetration was done with an explosive warhead. Solid penetrators like DU APDSFS rounds and the like have no explosive in them at all, so they couldn't have made that mark, which leaves us with the only type of anti-tank round that uses explosives. The HEAT round.

Jeremy

*edit.. Here's a link to a wikipedia site on HEAT warheads. Wikipedia Entry *
 
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With that incredible energy available ... it'd seem more like a discarding sabot penetration projectile .... fired from a large cal weapon. Not that that explains the apparent ''scorch'' mark at entry.
 
If it retained enough force to bury itself in 2 inched in the hull after going through everything else...why did it not penetrate the flak jacket and kill the wearer.

Even if it was a glancing blow...that whole thing is weird.

Smoke
 
the splater at the entrance looks very similar to Depleted Uranium hits that I've seen on BRDM's, BMP's and various tanks from the first gulf war. The first time I saw an armormed vehichle that came up aginst DU rounds you would have thought the vehichle was made of butter the way the rounds went through.
 
If I were a betting man, I'd be betting on some gunner in a Bradley firing a round of DU AP ammo from his 25mm gun, and scoring an "own goal"...

:scrutiny: :rolleyes: :(
 
Smoke said:

If it retained enough force to bury itself in 2 inched in the hull after going through everything else...why did it not penetrate the flak jacket and kill the wearer.
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Check the picture of the seat and the gunner's armor. It just barely missed the gunner and nicked his armor. It looks like he was very lucky because if the projectile had been just an inch or two to the right it would have hit him.
 
Looks like it was something more along the lines of a linear explosive with a core projectile along with a liner instead of an airgap. A projectile of sufficient hardness in front of the liner would cause that kind of damage.

As much as I'd like to say it wasn't, it seems like someone scored on the same team with a depleted uranium/linear charge round of 20-30mm.
 
Its those darn AK47s those are evil weapons...they should all be banned. The only purpose they have is to kill others and play pinball inside a tank. Just yesterday a boatload of those evil weapons were found trying to be legally brought into the US. Heaven help us...next thing you know someone will take out a satellite when they use the new rocket assisted round.
 
I looked at a few of my photos, files, and books, and that IS a linear charge hole with some solid projectile in front of the liner.... seems like it had to be an "oops, that was OURS." :banghead:
 
More likely a standoff SEFOP (SElf FOrging Projectile) than a standard HEAT, as conventional shaped charge warheads experience more disruption of the jet from airspaces like that between the skirt and hull, where the SEFOP will ignore that, AFAIK.
 
After they check the pieces and find out what it was made of there will be an A** eating. Something along the lines of they are shooting at us, we don't need to shoot at us too. I'd say Preacherman is real close.
 
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