T-80U without Kontakt-5 | M829A2 | Armor Penetration

Simulation of a M1A2 Abrams projectile hitting the frontal armor of T-80U.

120mm M829A2 APFSDS (4.9kg projectile, ~21mm diameter DU penetrator) at 1630 m/s

vs

T-80U hull front armor:

50mm SHA + 35mm Glass Textolite + 50mm SHA + 35mm Glass Textolite + 50mm SHA at 68 degrees

120mm muzzle velocity (M829A2) - 1680 m/s. 1630 m/s refers to a distance of approximately 1 km.

SHA - Semi Hardened Steel (+400 BHN RHA)

[fracturedZ]

It's pretty impressive how much the ERA affects penetration due to it deforming the projectile.

[weaponizedautism]

Really Shows what a massive difference ERA makes for Soviet MBT armor. Very nice video.

[velvetthundr]

M829A3 and A4 was specifically designed to combat Kontak-5 because it’s predecessor is defeated by the ERA. And that’s why Relikt was made to be 2x effective against darts over Kontakt-5

[TRPilotYT]

Didnt expect such massive difference tbh

[daninquin]

would be cool to see a m829a2 against the front face of the turret of the t-80u or the t-90a

[maxkennedy]

The sort of kinetic energy that modern APFSDS can produce is always faintly terrifying

[georgivanev]

Please do the 203mm Anti-Concrete shell from the soviet B-4 howitzer against the frontal hull armour of Tiger 2.

[tokencivilian]

Interesting results vs the last one. Question: Do you ever restart and rerun the sim (same initial conditions) to verify you get the same results?

[slowlydying]

Always brightens my day to see another post! Would it be worth doing another kontact-5 simulation with an off-center hit? I've heard heavy ERA loses effectiveness the closer to the edge the hit is

[sullafelix]

Since we are in the new year now, let us ask some questions about 2022.

What was your favourite simulation of 2022 to model?
Which was your least favourite?
And which simulation surprised you the most?

Thank you for your great and informative content.

[zoroverse]

Could you please do a simulation where you compare damage from a solid round and an apcr round. Both rounds from same cannon (note that velocity can differ even if fired from same cannon as apcr is lighter and will most likely have higher velocity) and where both rounds penetrate. So not simulate the penetration values but the damage that the respective rounds causes.

Thank you and keep up the great work.

[Russet_Mantle]

It seems the Textolite initially got compressed, but the subsequent expansion caused major deformation of the penetrator.
Would be cool to see a simulation where Textolite is replaced by air.

[insertyournamehere]

It’s crazy that APFSDS can beat composite armors so easily even which is well sloped…

[Phapchamp]

ERA is scary when you combine it with sufficient enough armor. Deformed rods really don't perform well against armor.

[jadog]

I’ve heard that composite made of ceramic sandwiched between two Rha plates is very effective due to the way the ceramic shatters and destributes energy. Could you test this compared to rubber nera or maybe just spaced steel?

[gerfand]

More effective than what I thought before.
I mean I knew the ERA was needed for the Tank, but didn't thought the armor of the T80U was this good (I don't mean "lol it stopped it", I mean I thought more of the penetrator would go throught.)

[theScottishKoala]

This seems very optimistic for the T-80’s hull. Based on available information, M829A2 should have gone through that like a hot knife through butter without the ERA! The initial deformation of the round as it contacts the armor seems too great.

What range is this supposed to simulate?

[JF-xqfr]

Wow, the velocity and number of internal hull chunks is crazy... Not to mention how much dart made it through!

[acr_master]

Great simulation as before, just wondering what would the result be if it were the newer Relikt variant ERA instead of the kontakt-5 on that upper front plate... (t-80BVM simulation at that point)

[vvvv]

классно писать про контакт-5 которого нет, это просто броня т-80У, там приведёнки 500-550 мм, конечно пробьёт