edremy@portia.Stanford.EDU (eric remy) (09/29/90)
From: edremy@portia.Stanford.EDU (eric remy) In article <1990Sep27.031847.8107@cbnews.att.com> nzt1939@dsacg3.dsac.dla.mil (William M. Aldo) writes: > > >From: nzt1939@dsacg3.dsac.dla.mil (William M. Aldo) >|From: jfb@ihlpm.att.com (Joseph F Baugher) >| >|There has been much talk recently in sci.military about the M1 Abrams tank. >|Here's a few facts which I dug up which I thought might be of interest. >|Enjoy! >| >| Main gun: >| Can fire depleted uranium or HEAT rounds. > >These surely are NOT the only types that can be utilized; what about >HEP, AP, APFSDS, or any of the other good stuff? > >[mod.note: APFSDS-DU (depleted uranium) is the M1's kinetic penetrator. >I don't know if HE is carried; perhaps HEP is used for this role ? I >suspect that cannister (Beehive) is also carried. Anyone ? - Bill ] HEP and HEAT are the only explosive rounds carried for 105mm gun. The 120mm on the M1A1 has no HEP or Beehive. (That anyone's told this lowly National Guard 2LT about.) Beehive in any case is very rare. White phosphorous smoke rounds can also be carried by the 105. There are a variety of KE penetrator rounds for the 105. The older ones are spin stabilized sabots, usually with tungsten carbide penetrators. (APDS) Later versions are fin stabilized (APFSDS), the most modern have DU penetrators. (APFSDS-DU) The Russians use one we abbreviate as (HVAPFSDS), hyper-velocity... Whew... Additional comments to the person asking about computer failure in M1s. (I'm sorry, but I've lost the posting...) (Readers health warning: all of my (limited) experience is on M60 type tanks, M1's should be about the same, but I've never live fired one.) A substantial percentage of tank gunnery practice in the U.S., both in computer simulators such as the UCOFT and live fire, is devoted to "degraded mode gunnery". This can entail everything from losing the thermal sight to, at least in the COFT, total failure of everything in the turret short of the breechblock. In cases w/o a computer, you switch to a telescope with various reticles for the different types of ammo, little changed from the sights used in WWII. Range is typically estimated by a variety of methods, in my case, I usually use the SWAG method. (Scientific Wild Ass Guess) Further problems can include loss of laser rangefinder, (See above) loss of gun stabilization, (Fire at a brief halt) loss of turret power, (Use manual hand cranks-VERY slow) or even loss of the electrical firing triggers. (Manual blasting device.) Each of these problems doesn't make the job impossible,but the chances of a first round hit go down. Given the track record of high tech equipment in combat, I have to applaud the Army for forcing this training on tankers, humbling though it may be. (I've seen experienced gunners come out of a "no anything" simulation and just shake their heads...) Eric R. edremy@d31ha2.Stanford.edu
gwh%typhoon.Berkeley.EDU@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (George William Herbert) (10/04/90)
From: gwh%typhoon.Berkeley.EDU@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (George William Herbert) In article <1990Sep29.155401.8005@cbnews.att.com> edremy@portia.Stanford.EDU (eric remy) writes: >rare. White phosphorous smoke rounds can also be carried by the 105. This is incorrect. There is a ammo degradation safety problem that makes it impossible for the M1 to use WP rounds. The main gun ammo in the M1 is stored horizontally, whereas in older tanks it was stored vertically. The WP ammo degrades if stored on its side. WP is not issued to any M1 units as a result. == George William Herbert == **There are only two truly infinite things,** == JOAT for Hire: Anything, == * the universe and stupidity. And I am * =======Anywhere, My Price======= * unsure about the universe. -A.Einstein * == gwh@ocf.berkeley.edu == ********************************************* == ucbvax!ocf!gwh == The OCF Gang: Making Tomorrow's Mistakes Today