Army: Any idea what did this?

[Mango]

I hate posting this, but I am curious what could have done this to our tank. I scoured the net and couldn't find any details on it. I don't know if the crew survived or not (I hope they did).

[WicKeD_WaYz]

....that looks like one hell of an explosion, I hope the crew is alright

Maybe they talked about it on CNN or something? Its hard to know how many tanks we REALLY loose in the war because you dont know if the news crews are giving real numbers or not.

[Mango]

http://www.militarycity.com/iraq/1704995.html

I just found this incredible article!!! It got me totally hyped up. A true testament to those companies that build our Military Equipment. No one was hurt and the crews survived.

[HoppysMag]

no ones ever died in an abrams... from fire. unfortunatly a crew drowned a couple weeks ago when they went off a bridge into a river.

[HoppysMag]

ya on that note check this out
http://www.nd.edu/~bhenness/JavelinLiveFireVsT72.mpg

a javeline shoulder fired anti tank missle shot at a t72 russian tank... specificly the 2nd close up...

[Mango]

http://www.militarycity.com/iraq/1721928.html

Yeah, I just found the drowning article here. I was reading it as you posted.

[Blennidae]

Russian Kornet missile?

I remember reading a couple weeks ago about the Iraqis having a Russian missile we did not expect them to have. Maybe this is the damage caused by one.

Here is a link:

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/SciTech/iraq_kornetFAQ030327.html

[Army]

Re: Russian Kornet missile?

Originally posted by Blennidae
I remember reading a couple weeks ago about the Iraqis having a Russian missile we did not expect them to have. Maybe this is the damage caused by one.

The Kornet never really worked as advertised by the Soviets, it's guidance system was juvenile at best, and the warhead in no way could defeat any more than about 1.5ft of armor.

When you read "armor" in relation to a protective barrier, that means solid steel or iron, and sometimes aluminum alloys. The M1 series of tanks use an American variant of the British Chobham armor, which uses exotic metals and other materials to create a kind of "plywood" affect. This affect diverts the energies of an explosion or penetrator in many new directions, slowing and defeating that energy. BTW: M1's DO NOT, and have never used, use reactive armor boxes. Why these dumb-buns reporters keep repeating that, I do not know.

Anyhoo Mango, I believe that was one victims of that anti-tank gun (actually it was most likely a recoiless rifle). Despite the fuel and ammo blowing off, notice that the open hatch on top isn't burned or discolored at all. That means that the interior was never breached. The crew could have stayed safely on board!

[Mango]

Ohh I see! Thanks for the info Army.

[Trench]

Man, that is very rough... Oh well... I hope everyone is ok...

[FooTemps]

Man, that is one heck of an explosion to do that! Sucks that those guys drowned.

[shartley]

[edweird]

Well im not army nor do I know alot about armor....

but that looks like an antitank landmine explosion to me. notice how the skirt panels are pushed out and the panels that are loose are pushed out rather than pushed in via a strike. Ive seen what our AGM-65 missiles do and this is definatly not it

[slateman]

I'm no expert (but I hope to be ) could thatt be an anti-tank mine that they just rolled over with the right track?

[Restola]

Originally posted by shartley

I know we did that to one of our downed helocopters.

One time I ran out of gas. Rather than leave my car on the side of the street (easy pickings for criminals), I blew it up.

I felt much better.