20kg to stop a battleship

China has once again increased the strength of its arms. Barely a month after boasting about his progress with rail gunElectromagnetic Railgun, Chinese researchers are now highlighting their achievements in using projectiles with kinetic energy weapons. Then and now the Asian giant emphasizes the scope of its work and establishing status with the United States. The country’s press actually highlights that the latest tests to measure the power of its weapons have been conducted based on the standards of American warships.

And the results, he says, are surprising.

between weapons and calculations, The team of researchers led by Huang Jie of the China Aerodynamic Research and Development Center has carried out a series of tests and numerical simulations to assess the damage potential of kinetic energy weapons, as their own name indicates. Based on the kinetic energy of the projectile, not its explosive charge.

Specifically, Huang and his colleagues were interested in determining how much damage these types of weapons cause to military armor built to American standards, such as the M1 Abrams battle tank. Their findings have been archived equipment environmental engineering And the newspaper is responsible for echoing them South China Morning Post ,SCMP), based in Hong Kong. The center where Huang Jie conducts research is located in Sichuan province and is dedicated to the development of hypersonic weapons with speeds greater than Mach 5.

with one shot, Huang and his team say their tests show that a single shot from a kinetic energy weapon is enough to knock out a US armored tank. His calculations show that launching a 20-kilogram solid shell at a speed four times the speed of sound could cause disaster in armored vehicles built according to American standards. Going into detail, he concluded that the kinetic energy of such a projectile would be about 25 megajoules, which translated into electrical energy would be a little less than 7 kilowatt-hours.

As the Hong Kong newspaper points out, disabling a tank weighing between 40 and 60 tons, equipped with armored layers and built according to American standards, may seem like a low result, but the researchers’ simulations would show that a warship would survive an attack. These characteristics are harmed. Which leaves it useless. The damage may not be visible to the naked eye, but it will be critical to the operation of the vehicle.

looks are deceiving, article of equipment environmental engineering This is interesting because it shows that, although from the outside the tank does not appear to be affected, the bolts connecting critical equipment inside may have broken. Conclusion: Even if the crew survives the effects of the Chinese weapon, they will still not be able to use the armored tank again.

“Under the impact of high-velocity kinetic projectiles, certain specific locations on the armored target show impact response spectrum lines with amplitudes at frequencies exceeding the safety limits recommended by the US military standards MIL-STD-810,” he reflects. Huang’s team article explains their study: “Components in these locations have a higher probability of failure due to overload damage.”

Interesting yes; not the first, Huang Jie’s study is not the first to assess what effect this type of weapon would have on armored tanks. SCMP This echoes another simulation conducted by Dalian University of Technology, which concludes that a 10 megajoule hypersonic kinetic projectile capable of reaching seven times the speed of sound would cause notable devastation among tank crews, ranging from minor injuries to There will be a balance up to serious injuries. , depending on the position of each soldier on the battleship.

The driver would take the brunt and suffer injuries that could be fatal, which, combined with the rest of the effects, would prevent the tank from continuing the maneuver.

hit without hitting the target, A major advantage of high-velocity kinetic projectiles, such as the one tested by Huang, is that they can cause damage even by indirect impacts and allow the use of different launch systems. Its philosophy differs from standard weapons which focus on their powder charge and the explosion produced when it reaches its target. This solution is capable of penetrating armor, but it has a significant limitation: if the projectile does not fall in the right place, its effectiveness may be reduced.

When assessing the damage caused by a kinetic projectile, one of the keys is the shock wave that is generated by the impact and which propagates throughout the vehicle, which, for example, affects the vehicle’s screws and causes distortions and fractures. Causes. SCMP This ensures that the voltage released from such a shot can cause catastrophic damage to the interior of the tank.

They reflect, “The hold of the tank gun stabilizer console may shake, the console wiring base may be completely torn, all connections between the fire control computer and the turret may be severed, resulting in a considerable loss of fire power. “

Images: Ed Uthman (Flickr)

Via: South China Morning Post

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