From: JTravis (dagobert@ix.netcom.com)
Date: Mon Dec 13 2004 - 23:59:35 PST
Jack wrote:
>Here's a crazy thought that just might work. On the
>M35, one of the major problems for installing floor
>armor is the lack of areas to mount it. How about
>hanging a steel sheet under the vehicle with chains
>and installing sandbags on it? I bet you would still
>have a good foot of clearance between the axles and
>cover the whole area of the cab floor. Might not have
>the room on a HMMWV, but its a start.
>
>Clearance is not a big issue in a flat, paved urban
>area, but a bomb dug into the road is, right?
>
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>
I know this thread has gone a lot further, but back to the original idea
of improvised armor- Instead of hanging a plate on chains and putting
sandbags on top of it, what about something like this- an outer plate
surrounding a series of metal tubes filled with something thick, like
asphalt sealer, and lightly capped on the ends that would hold in the
liquid but release under pressure, mounted on top of an inner plate that
mounts to the body on a series of short studs spaced about one every
square foot or so, that each has some sort of small spring set
(valvesprings, or some such) between the inner plate and the body
itself. While this wouldn't likely stop a buried arty shell from
underneath, at least on the sides it might help with an RPG hit.
Assuming that my limited understanding of how an RPG penetrates by a
hollow shaped charge that creates a focused inner cone of plasma that
burns through to penetrate, the outer plate would take the detonation,
and when the plasma penetrates this, it would then burn into the tube
and some of its energy would be absorbed by both the liqud asphalt
sealer and also a portion of its energy redirected along the path of the
tube, and then hopefully the suspension mounting of the inner plate
would also assist in dissipating some more of the energy, with the
cumulative effect at least helping in adding some survivablity to the
vehicle while not adding too much extra weight (compared to the same
amount of energy absorbed by just using thicker plating). The other
advantage would be that the only materials needed (liquid asphalt
sealer, pipe, something to loosely cork the ends of the pipes with,
spare valvesprings, some plate and a welder) could hopefully be procured
in country.
Cliff, I don't know if this would work or not, and since I really don't
have any way to test it here (no RPGs lying around, and even if I did,
the BATF guys would not likely have any sense of humor about that sort
of thing in a residential neighborhood) do you think it might be worth a
try to mock one up and test it over there, to see if it might help?
Nothing is a cure-all, of course, but if it helps even one more guy over
there be able to survive taking a hit and being able to fight back
without being wounded, then it's worth trying to find some way to help.
P.S. Glad you found the missing radiator for your bike.
Jay Travis
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