From: Dave Cole (DavidCole@tk7.net)
Date: Sun Aug 25 2002 - 20:36:12 PDT
Something is wrong with this story. I understand how capacitors work, but a shaped charge that is powerful enough to penetrate 1' of steel is going to blow
right through thin armor, and destroy the capacitor, and do some serious damage to the lightly armored hull.. There has to be more to this than what was
described, if it does work. Perhaps this is the "public" explanation regarding what is going on.
Dave
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.
8/23/2002 11:32:40 AM, "Horrocks, Aaron" <ACHb@pge.com> wrote:
>Through the coarse of history, there has been armour advances and then
>advances to beat that armour. (Mostly thinker armour and bigger rounds...)
>
>With the development of Reactive Armour, came the answer of Depleted Uranium
>rounds. And now with the development of Electric Armour, I foresee wide
>spread use of EMP (Electro-Magnetic Pulse) devices to counteract that
>advancement.
>
>
>Mandatory MV content: Anyone have a used rear seat to an M38A1 they can sell
>me, or know where I can get one? - I'm not so hot for reproduction parts,
>I'd rather restore the real deal.
>
>
>Aaron Horrocks
>
>P.S. The Brits were the first to invent radar too!
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: J. Lee [mailto:milveh@sbcglobal.net]
>Sent: Friday, August 23, 2002 9:22 AM
>To: mil-veh@mil-veh.org
>Subject: Re: [MV] 'Electric armour' vaporises anti-tank grenades and
>shells
>
>
>Thanks Nigel, I am stunned by what I just read. This is absolutely amazing.
>Best breakthru in decades if it is truly all that and it certainly appears
>so! What an incredible advancement, likely to change everything in armour
>tactics and design. Weight, range, speed, shapes... this is just amazing...
>I suppose it could even protect aircraft like the A10 and the British did it
>first!
>
>Hats off.....outstanding! Jack
>
>From the Daily Telegraph article today: "An electric "force field" for
>armoured vehicles that vaporises anti-tank grenades and shells on impact has
>been developed by scientists at the Ministry of Defence.
>
>The "electric armour" has been developed in an attempt to make tanks and
>other armoured vehicles lighter and less vulnerable to anti-tank grenade
>launchers such as those used by the Taliban and al-Qa'eda fighters in
>Afghanistan.
>
>It could be fitted to the light tanks and armoured personnel carriers that
>will replace the heavy Challenger II tanks and Warrior APCs in one of the
>two British armoured divisions.
>
>The ubiquitous RPG-7 anti-tank grenade launcher can be picked up for a mere
>$10 in most of the world's trouble spots but is capable of destroying a tank
>and killing its crew. When the grenade hits the tank, its "shaped-charge"
>warhead fires a jet of hot copper into the target at around 1,000mph. This
>is capable of penetrating more than a foot of conventional solid steel
>armour.
>
>The new electric armour is made up of a highly-charged capacitor that is
>connected to two separate metal plates on the tank's exterior. The outer
>plate, which is bullet-proof and made from an unspecified alloy, is earthed
>while the insulated inner plate is live.
>
>The electric armour runs off the tank's own power supply. When the tank
>commander feels he is in a dangerous area, he simply switches on the current
>to the inner plate.
>
>When the warhead fires its jet of molten copper, it penetrates both the
>outer plate and the insulation of the inner plate. This makes a connection
>and thousands of amps of electricity vaporises most of the molten copper.
>The rest of the copper is dispersed harmlessly against the vehicle's hull.
>
>But despite the high charge, the electrical load on the battery is no more
>than that caused by starting the engine on a cold morning.
>
>In a recent demonstration of the electric armour for senior Army officers,
>an APC protected by the new British system survived repeated attacks by
>rocket-propelled grenades that would normally have destroyed it several
>times over.
>
>Many of the grenades were fired from point-blank range but the only damage
>to the APC was cosmetic. The vehicle was driven away under its own power.
>
>Prof John Brown, of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, which
>developed the Pulsed Power System at its R&D site at Fort Halstead, Kent,
>said it was attracting a lot of interest from both the MoD and the Pentagon.
>
>With the easy availability of RPG-7 rocket launchers "it only takes one
>individual on, say, a rooftop in a village to cause major damage or destroy
>passing armoured vehicles", he said.
>
>But the use of electric armour, which will protect against all shaped-charge
>warheads including artillery and tank shells, would reduce the threat to
>zero."
>
>
>
>
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