First, the moving plates change the effective velocity and angle of impact of the shaped charge jet, reducing the angle of incidence and increasing the effective jet velocity versus the plate element. The disruption is attributed to two mechanisms. Against a kinetic energy penetrator, the projected plates serve to deflect and break up the rod. Against a shaped charge, the projected plates disrupt the metallic jet penetrator, effectively providing a greater path-length of material to be penetrated. On attack by a penetrating weapon, the explosive detonates, forcibly driving the metal plates apart to damage the penetrator. The advanced Kontakt-5 explosive reactive armour on this T-90S is arranged in pairs of plates, giving the turret its prominent triangular profile.Īn element of explosive reactive armour (ERA) is made out of a sheet or slab of high explosive sandwiched between two plates, typically metal, called the reactive or dynamic elements. Reactive armour created on the basis of the joint research was first installed on Israeli tanks during the 1982 Lebanon war and was judged very effective. Ī West German researcher, Manfred Held, carried out similar work with the IDF in 1967–1969. No more research was conducted until 1974, when the Ministry of the Defensive Industry announced a contest to find the best tank protection. For a number of reasons, including the aforementioned accident and a belief that Soviet tanks had sufficient armour, the research was ended. However, insufficient theoretical analysis during one of the tests resulted in all of the prototype elements being detonated. The first pre-production models were produced during the 1960s. The idea of counterexplosion ( kontrvzryv in Russian) in armour was first proposed by the Scientific Research Institute of Steel (NII Stali) in 1949 in the USSR by academician Bogdan Vjacheslavovich Voitsekhovsky (1922–1999). Without tandem charges, hitting precisely the same spot twice is much more difficult. Reactive armour can be defeated with multiple hits in the same place, as by tandem-charge weapons, which fire two or more shaped charges in rapid succession.
NERA and NxRA modules can withstand multiple hits, unlike ERA and SLERA, but a second hit in exactly the same location may potentially penetrate any of those, as the armour in that spot is compromised.Įssentially all anti-tank munitions work by piercing the armour and then either disable the crew inside, disable vital mechanical systems, or create spalling that disables the crew - or all three. The most common type is explosive reactive armour (ERA), but variants include self-limiting explosive reactive armour (SLERA), non-energetic reactive armour (NERA), non-explosive reactive armour (NxRA), and electric armour. It is most effective in protecting against shaped charges and specially hardened kinetic energy penetrators. Reactive armour is a type of vehicle armour that reacts in some way to the impact of a weapon to reduce the damage done to the vehicle being protected. A T-72 tank layered with reactive armour bricks