EVOLUTION OF TANK ARMOUR BASED ON LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE WAR IN UKRAINE

Abstract

In the response to the threat of drones and top-attack missiles in the Ukraine war attempts were made (on both sides of the conflict) to quickly (and not necessarily in a standardized way) introduce modifications to tank protection systems. Additional armor systems were used for the upper turret and upper hull areas - characteristic steel frames placed at some distance from the surface of the tank with additional explosive reactive armor (ERA) modules mounted. The evolution of such systems, principles of operation and the mechanisms for defeating SCJs were analyzed in the paper. Using a combined experimental and numerical study (in Impetus AFEA software), the protective effectiveness of such solutions against threats from improvised PGdrones and their warheads was evaluated. The effect of warhead attack angle on armor performance was determined.