183mm HESH vs M1 Abrams | Armor Penetration Simulation

183mm HESH (16.5 kg explosive, +23 kg TNT equivalent) at 700 m/s

Vs

M1 Abrams (1978) hull front armor:

32mm armor
+
NERA (Estimated on the basis of the scheme):
5.5mm bulging plate + 5.5mm rubber + 5.5mm bulging plate + 15mm air space
+
101mm armor

[mm_autoloader_Stronk_tonk_]

My disappointment for no damage to crew in the end is immeasurable, but the deformation of the plate is more than satisfying

[seanmurphy]

I mean, it's not going to buff out, but taking a 183mm anything in the face and not getting perforated all the way through is impressive.

[gmodrules]

Its crazy how effective wobbly nera plates are at stopping shells.

[MPdude]

That seems about right. Shortly after WW2, the brits were testing 165mm HESH against a Tiger II Porsche, choosing an early model tank since the armor would likely be higher quality and the King Tiger was chosen since the brits figured that whatever the Soviets would be cooking up would have armor comparable to the King Tiger. Overall, the HESH round was quite effective generally speaking, even when hitting the frontal armor. However, it was found that Track armor rendered the round completely ineffective, despite the fact that there was only a few centimeters of clearance between the tracks and the main armor. The spare tracks were no more but the actual armor suffered no real damage.

Edit: I mistakenly put the 17pdr instead of the 165mm.

[BungusAlt]

This is one of my favorite simulations yet. Really shows how effective NERA is against HESH. It can be tough to imagine all these thin pieces of armor being effective against such a huge shell(even though we all know it is). Seeing it in action is very informative.
Thank you for these videos

[SquooshyCatboy]

Also.

Try an anti-tank HEAT grenade (the ones launched from an M1 Garand’s barrel) against the back of a panzer IV turret.
If the stories are right, it should turn the turret crew into a fine red mist.

[samspeed]

I'm not really surprised by this. The 183mm BESH is a monster of a shell, but the Abrams has some meaty armour and it is NERA, with space, with a bloody thick backplate. You can see how much power went into that LFP with it gouging the top of the armour block out like that.
Although the BESH did not cause any spalling or penetrate, I can guarantee that the tank crew would be experiencing a "significant emotional event". And it would be very loud.

[Obelion_]

wow didnt expect no critical damage at all. especially 183mm, thats a lot of boom

[finnanutyo]

The sound inside the tank must have the crew's ear's ringing for a while lol. I had a feeling it wouldn't make it through, but it would completely devastate the outer layers, as it did! I think because the nera and steel are different densities and it's all not one single solid piece; the shockwave would have a hard time reverberating all the way through that, and the air gaps to be able to scab the inner steel. Great video! Thank you for the entertainment!

[Prometheus]

Yeah, it wrecked up the armor pretty much as expected. Looks like it didn't do anything of note behind the armor though, which was also kind of expected.

I dunno, why so many people voted for spalling.
NERA basically designed to consume tons of energy, produced by small high-velocity objects. No way it wouldn't stop any reasonable sized HESH round...
It's like trying to brake the table with your fist, that can withstand hitting with screwdriver without any issue...

[calessel]

Im not surprised. I remember Armored Archives doing a video on post war British HESH tests. Turns out spaced armor effectively defeats such rounds. In fact, their tests show even hanging track "armor" can reduce the damage from a HESH round to a negligible effect against armored targets.

[MrTrool]

I can only imagine the absolute ringing sound inside that tank after being struck with that

[hodaO]

Wow the crosscut at the end is just perfect

[thewakeup]

Yeah there was no way it was going to get through. The explosion was too far away from the back plate. Pressure drops off exponentially the further away it gets from its source. The explosion doesn't have a medium to transfer through other than air (which does not transfer kinetic energy very well) and lost pretty much all of it's energy.
And sure the crew survived but I don't think you can repair something like that.

[TamamoFX]

Even though the HESH didnt penetrate into the crew compartment, it has degraded the hull to the point of where the crew would abandon the tank or atleast try to disengage from the battle.

[aslabogranite]

Sure it didn't pen, but that much explosive? Does the tank still have treads on it? is the gun barrel above deformed? Is there a single piece of working optic on the tank still?

[oz]

Awsome! No spalling 😭 but impressive deformation ! Thanks for this so satisfying moment.

[maxlar]

Can you please make a comparison between 13mm boys at rifle round and 25mm apcr shell shot from panhard vs 30mm steel plate?

[ovhgermany]

I have been wanting to see this for a long time. Good work, Dejmian. Much love.