The tank is covered with explosives to prevent it from being blown up. What kind of evil operation is this?

As you may not know, in the modern battlefield, most tanks are covered with explosives, and American and Russian tanks especially like this explosive outfit.

Aren't tanks supposed to be afraid of being bombed, wearing explosives to go to the battlefield? is this a way to get killed?

It sounds counterintuitive, but the outer wear of explosives is actually the self-protection of tanks, and this explosive plug-in kit is called explosive reactive armor (Explosive Reactive Armor).

This is because anti-tank weapons often use attacks called conical charges (shaped charge).

Everyone knows that the tank has a large tonnage and strong defense, so it is very difficult to let it bleed.

One of the best ways to get tanks off the line is to pierce their protective shells.

Therefore, in modern times, conical charge has emerged as a weapon in addition to your weapon, which is designed to deal with the thick skin of tanks.

Let's start with the principle of conical charge.

The conical charge makes use of the physical phenomenon of Monroe / Neumann effect.

In general, when the explosive explodes, the shock wave spreads in a spherical shape, so only part of the energy can hit the target.

In other words, although ordinary explosives are good-looking, they are very inefficient.

Is there any way to concentrate the explosion energy?

In 1886, Charles E. Munroe, a chemist at the United States Naval War College (Naval War College), found that when nitrocellulose with the manufacturer's name engraved exploded near the metal plate, the manufacturer's name was also engraved on the metal plate.

In other words, the topology of the depression can concentrate the energy of the explosion.

His discovery became known as the Munroe effect effect.

Then in 1910, German researcher Egon Neumann (Egon Neumann) independently discovered that if the TNT explosive was made into a cone, it could pierce a steel plate when it exploded.

This is the Neumann effect (Neumann effect).

However, the two men's findings did not cause much reaction.

It was R. W. Wood, a scholar at Johns Hopkins University, who really pushed this phenomenon into military research and development, because a new discovery made the Monroe / Neumann effect militarily valuable.

Wood's discovery was also accidental.

At that time, he heard the workers of the explosive factory say that if a conical piece of metal was added to the explosive, it could pierce a very thick steel plate like a bullet during the explosion.

In 1936, one person was killed by this conical sheet metal bomb, so Wood was invited to investigate.

Wood confirmed that the metal cone stuffed into the explosive does deform during the explosion and become a high-speed jet like a liquid.

His discovery quickly aroused the reaction of the world's great powers, and this phenomenon is also known as lined-cavity phenomena (cavity metal lining phenomenon).

In 1944, Soviet scientists F. A. Korolev and G. I. Pokrovskii published test data and found that sheet metal could reach an astonishing speed of 10, 000 meters per second after an explosion.

It should be noted that there is no agreement in academic circles on the physics of the Monroe / Neumann effect and the phenomenon of metal lining in the cavity, but this does not prevent countries from developing related weapons-conical charges.

Of the various conical charges, perhaps the most famous is the bazooka (Bazooka) used by the United States Army during World War II.

Nowadays, many oil drilling platforms also use conical charge to improve the explosion effect.

Discovery Discovery Channel launched a cone-shaped charge program in 2020.

You can take a look at the transmission of the conical charge to the tank armor.

So the question is, if the conical charge is so strong, how can we get rid of it?

In fact, the invention of explosive reactive armor was inextricably linked to conical charge, and it was also an accident.

In 1967, Norwegian weapons researcher Manfred Held discovered the feasibility of explosive reactive armor while testing conical charges.

He observed that some of the tanks bombed by conical charges were less damaged. it turned out that some explosives had been retained in these tanks, which offset the impact of conical charges when detonated.

In fact, this is quite understandable, the Super Saiyan use this principle when they use tactics to defend themselves.

Inspired by this, Manfred designed a tank version of "bulletproof armor" and named the anti-cone charging device explosive reactive armor.

In 1970, Manfred patented explosive reactive armor.

Explosive reactive armor is usually in the form of a sandwich with a layer of explosives sandwiched between two layers of metal plates.

When the conical charge explodes on the tank, the sandwich explosive layer explodes, and its outward shock wave disturbs the conical charge, making it impossible for it to break through the tank's thick armor.

This method of attacking with poison provides protection for the tank.

According to National Geographic, explosive reactive armor is a watershed between weapons and defense, because with explosive reactive armor, tanks can be light and will not become an antique of the old era in the eyes of some weapons experts.

In the Iraq war at the beginning of the 21st century, the US military used explosive reactive armor.

Of course, Russia (and the former Soviet Union) also loves reactive armor.

The Russian contact series is a famous reactive armor.

According to a report entitled "IMPENETRABLE RUSSIAN TANK ARMOUR STANDS UP TO EXAMINATION" published in 2007 by Jane's International Defense Review, a well-known political and military magazine, the former Soviet Union loved explosive reactive armor, while almost all Eastern European tanks are now equipped with explosive reactive armor.

The explosive reaction armor of the former Soviet Union was still very strong and was liked by its opponents.

The Future of Armoured Wa held in London in May 2007