CHIEFTAIN vs T-64A & T-72 Ural | Composite Armour Piercing Simulation | 120mm L15A5 APDS

The Chieftain and the T-64A represent the most powerful NATO and Soviet tanks from the 1960's, with the T-64 being the first mass produced tank in the World to use composite armour. This was comprised of textolite (similar to fibreglass) sandwiched between two RHA plates in an 80-105-20mm configuration. This same layout was used on the first T-72 tanks.

This textolite layer was mainly to improve protection against HEAT munitions, but at 700m, L15A5 can penetrate around 120mm of RHA at 68°, meaning the textolite, and the spacing it creates, provides a decent amount of additional protection against kinetic threats too. This armour arrangement could effectively resist all kinetic NATO rounds beyond 500m until the adoption of APFSDS in the late 70's.

Amazing thumbnail art from: @TanksEncyclopediaYT

Unfortunately the mesh had to be made coarser than normal for me to simulate this in a reasonable amount of time

[SYsimulations]

This is a best case scenario where the T-64 is completely head on; even a slight angle would prevent perforation completely.

I will try to refine the model and mesh further as an array of this thickness took a long time for my pc to simulate...

[METBLL]

Imagine being the driver, and the core of the round just lands in your lap.

[Fu-Jhio-Jhitsu]

It is really interesting to know how was real capabilities of most powerful tanks of the world, especially in case when they were not involved to some common conflicts, where they could meet each other. Thank you for your job, for sharing it with everyone of us.

[punisher]

Tiger II 88mm vs T-44 upper front glacis. Neither of the 88mm could penetrate it, so I think it would be interesting to see.

[DonJuanIIdeAustria]

We know from real fire events during the Irak-Iran War (1980-1988) that the Chieftain could only penetrate de frontal armout of the iraqi T-72 (Ural, M, M1) at ranges of below 900m, this also means that back then the iranian Chieftains didn´t have APFSDS (aka sabot aka arrow) ammo at their disposal. Great simulation, thanks.

[lenney]

Honestly watching these has really ruined war thunder for me

[Panzerzwerg]

Would be interesting to see now the T-64A's 125mm against the strongest part of the chieftain's turret!

[dfcn]

Great looking sim and analysis as always. Love your videos.

[gargean]

"A simplified fibreglass model was used for the textolite" - that part might be a problem tbh. Soviet armor grate glass-textolite was not that simple. To the level Warshaw Pact countries couldn't repeat it at the level of quality original soviet one provided.

[peasant]

Can't believe I'm rooting for some pieces of steel more than I do for some flat characters in modern TV series.

Now make the future versions the T-80B whit increased back layer (60-105-45) and compare to this one whit 16mm high hardned plate on top.

[IceMan]

88 mm KwK 43 King Tiger Main Gun vs T-55 Armor

[Sh-epard]

This is so far on par (if not the same results) of studies and data found on some text and blog i have readed.
I should check out again Tankograd (blog spot) and their articles, under the part on the T-72 Ural, to be sure.
The 120mm APDS was not enough to be a serious threat when T-64A rolled out in the field, this shows how and why and it's highly reliable on the British concerns.
Sub right now, as i'm reading both on the Chieftain and Challenger 1 development, i found this very interesting🤓

[andrewwang]

Might need to quote this in a school project to demonstrate the advantages that T64 have. Good simulation

[jerryjantola]

Great simulation once more! Is the composite material considered isotropic?

[hoshyro]

This channel is always very interesting and a nice way to be entertained while learning accurate performance of tanks we know and love :)

[Nikodim_Gorobets]

Great job, friend! Follow your work with pleasure.

[briansmithwins]

it would be very interesting to see what effect HEAT rounds would have on the same armor array

[Saiga-saiga]

What specific fiberglass did you use? In Russian language, the material that is used in the T-64A is called стеклотекстолит (glass textolite)

[dradmiral]

Could we see a simulation of the T-80U’s hull vs the Abram’s M829 APFSDS round?