New IFV for German army: Puma

[Skybird]

This little beats is currently discussed at the SB.com-forum. Malicious biting cutie it is:

http://www.kmweg.com/gb/produkte/puma_special.php

Full automatic turret with 30 mm Mauser cannon, 700 rounds/minute. Beats everything in it's class.

The discusison thread over there is this:

http://www.steelbeasts.com/index.php...a3a4d48fc98e61

[Godalmighty83]

i think that turret could sit nicely on a warrier, especialy with electric armour that will hopefully see daylight in a few years.

[Skybird]

What is electrical armour? Defeats tazers, or what?

[Godalmighty83]

it goes by several names, its two thin layers of armour much lighter then traditional armour seperated by an insulator, the idea is if the armour is hit by a rpg (the most common anti-tank weapon used in modern warfare nowadays) then the first layer detonates the warhead, the shaped charge of the warhead then completes a exrtemely HT circuit so as the hot plasma of the warhead passes forward it gets 'hit' by a massive electrical current dispersing it.

this should leave the 2nd layer of armour intact and the system ready to defend itself again as long as its hit in a different spot. the outer armour only needs to stop small arms fire and the level of protection goes up (normaly a direct rpg hit will cripple a fighting vehcile and damage a tank) and the overall weight goes down.

this has been tested on a warrior in the uk and it withstood several attacks that would have destroyed a traditionaly armoured vehicle. but still in the testing stages.

obviously though it doesnt matter if your hit by a howitzer shell or something like that if your in a puma or warrior your pretty much dead.

there is a link on this site somewhere.

[Skybird]

Sounds like something like "electrical reactive" armor...?

[Bluewings]

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.

Cheers .

[Godalmighty83]

Originally Posted by Bluewings

Cheers .

almost zero anyway, but hopefully it buys you or a squad member the time to kill the guy with the rpg before he gets the chance to aim at the same spot again.

i wouldnt be surprised if this armour becomes nato standard by next decade.

[Skybird]

How does it perform against HEAT and SABOT ammunition? Or is it not meant to be used on MBTs as well? I somehow got the impression that it could defeat a HEAT-kind of round, but no kinetic ammunition like SABOT or KE.

[Godalmighty83]

should be fairly effective in thery, but that ammo isnt usually used against light fighting vehicles as they are mainly used in areas after the main war has been conducted. like basra at the moment.