T-80B vs M1 ABRAMS | THE MOST UNIQUE APFSDS vs NERA | 3BM26 Composite Armour Penetration Simulation

The simulation presents the unique 3BM26 APFSDS projectile impacting the composite hull armour of the M1 Abrams, at 2km. The 3BM26 Armour-Piercing Fin-Stabilised Discarding-Sabot (APFSDS) projectile entered service in 1983, featuring a unique design with a penetrating core mounted in the rear, with an air gap in front of it. This was done to avoid the issues that front-mounted cores faced, where they could be dislodged or shattered when striking oblique or spaced armour. Based on information on Tankograd (thesovietarmourblog), the core was also changed to a tungsten alloy (WHA) to increase its toughness and density over tungsten carbide. A steel follower rod is placed behind the core to increase its penetrative power. The air gap is to allow the core and follower to maintain their terminal velocity while the body decelerated during penetration. It is intended that they will only stike the armour once the body has eroded, maximising their penetration. A thin aluminium spacer has been placed in the cavity which acts to retain the core during transport and flight, but is not strong enough to impede it during penetration. The front of the projectile features a tungsten alloy penetrating cap to increase penetration and to prevent the steel body from shattering upon impact. Its quoted that 3BM26 can penetrate 420-490mm of Rolled Homogenous Armour (RHA) at 2km, at 0°. *The M1 Abrams armour array in the simulation has been based on diagrams available online and is likely only representative of early M1 variants or their prototypes*. More modern armour arrays remain classified. Plate thicknesses have been approximated from the diagrams and materials inferred from similar armour packages. The Non-Energetic Reactive Armour (NERA) panels have been approximated as HHA - Rubber - HHA, based on pixel measurements from the diagram. The High-Hardness Armour (HHA) has been modelled with a 500BHN hardness, with the front 32mm plate being 400BHN RHA, and the rear 102mm plate being 300BHN RHA. These are approximated hardnesses as the true plate properties are not known. Documents available online show that the hull armour of the initial M1 Abrams provided about 350mm of protection against kinetic projectiles. The 3BM26 manages to penetrate the array but without a singificant residual mass; the fuel tanks and internal armour plates may have been able to absorb the residual penetrator (if it struck to the sides of the driver). Amazing thumbnail artwork from: Evgeny Fedotov