BATTLE: M-1 Abrams Vs. T-90

[Kazuaki Shimazaki II]

- those ERA are useless against tandem HEAT warheads
- those ERA are also useless against modern Western APFSDS rounds

IIRC, Russians were supposed counter tandem-HEAT by merely strapping on more layers of ERA.

As for modern Western APFSDS, I know the West claims that (the same guys who didn't even think that APFSDS could be broken by ERA) it is really hard to believe that they are useless. Anti-APFSDS ERA basically breaks the incoming round to rob it of its penetration, and Western APFSDS rounds are getting longer all the time, which grants them more penetrating power <i>but only if they hit at the right angle</i>. They are more fragile overall with their greater L/W ratio, and if they don't hit at the angle, they are much more likely to snap.

Their new, increased length is not purely a function of improved metallurgy, but also a desperation to achieve some penetration of modern tanks even at the price of restricting the conditions under which penetration occurs. There is a reason they did not start with 40:1 rounds.

It is probably more realistic to think that they <i>meant</i> to say that their round has enough over-penetration to defeat the remaining armor <i>after</i> getting weakened by K5 - if that is the round doesn't break first, rather than thinking the new rounds have "magical" properties that render them immune.