A destroyed M113 armoured personnel carrier show a section of the armour.

Armour often refers in a modern military context to the armoured fighting vehicle and the formations based around them. The symbol of such being the armoured fist, (as opposed to the strongarm.) The M113 during the Vietnam War The M113 is an armored personnel carrier family. ... An armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) is a military vehicle, equipped with protection against hostile attacks and often mounted weapons. ... This article is about the military unit. ... The symbol of armoured cavalry. ... Strongarm Using the arm strength instead of a more tactful method. ...

Military vehicles are commonly armoured to withstand the impact of shrapnel, bullets or shells, protecting the soldiers inside from enemy fire. The design and purpose of the vehicle determines the amount of armour plating carried, as the plating is often very heavy and excessive amounts of armour restrict mobility. An armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) is a military vehicle, equipped with protection against hostile attacks and often mounted weapons. ... Shrapnel, in the strict sense, is shot deliberately included in a landmine or shell intended to be scattered by the explosion. ... This article is about the projectile, for other uses see bullet (disambiguation). ... A shell is a projectile, which, as opposed to a bullet, is not only shot by explosives, but also contains explosives itself. ... Design as a process can take many forms depending on the object being designed and the individual or individuals participating. ...

Spaced armour, already used in WWI on the Schneider CA1 and St Chamond to defeat bullets, but reintroduced in the 1970s on the German Leopard 1, uses the fact that a shaped charge makes a jet of plasticised metal that dissipates after it travels a metre or two. There are hollow spaces inside the armour, increasing the length of travel from the exterior of the vehicle to the interior, in hopes of reducing the shaped charge's penetrating power; in some cases the interior surfaces of these hollow cavities are sloped, presenting angles to the anticipated path of the shaped charge's plasma jet in order to further dissipate its power. Thus instead of having a single 30cm layer of steel armour, it is possible to have two 15 cm layers half a meter or more apart, giving far greater protection against shaped charges at no penalty in weight. The Schneider CA1 was the first French tank. ... The Leopard is the primary post-WWII German tank design, a design that has been in use as the primary main battle tank for most European countries in various versions since the early 1960s. ... A shaped charge is an explosive charge shaped to focus the released energy. ...

Composite (aka Chobham) armour was developed in the 1970s by the British and first used on the American M1 Abrams but not, as is often presumed, on the german Leopard 2. It consists of layers of steel, ceramic, and plastic honeycomb, sometimes with layers of depleted uranium added. Composite is effective against both kinetic and shaped charge munitions. Against kinetic penetrators, the brittle ceramic blunts the projectile while the softer steel layers absorb its kinetic energy. Still, it is significantly less effective against KE-munitions, so sometimes depleted uranium layers are added to provide extra protection against these warheads. Composite armour is a type of armour consisting of layers of different material such as metals, plastics, ceramics or air. ... Events and trends Although in the United States and in many other Western societies the 1970s are often seen as a period of transition between the turbulent 1960s and the more conservative 1980s and 1990s, many of the trends that are associated widely with the Sixties, from the Sexual Revolution... The M1 Abrams main battle tank is the principal combat tank of the United States Army. ... The Leopard 2 is a tank developed in the early 1970s by Germany first entered service in 1978, with versions of it serving with them and other countries in the late 1990s and into the 21st century. ... Steel framework Steel is a metal alloy whose major component is iron, with carbon being the primary alloying material. ... The word ceramic is derived from Greek, and in its strictest sense refers to clay in all its forms. ... The term plastics covers a range of synthetic or semi-synthetic polymerization products. ... Honeycomb on a Langstroth frame A honeycomb is a mass of hexagonal wax cells built by honeybees in their nests to contain their larvae and stores of honey and pollen. ... Depleted uranium (DU) is uranium which contains a reduced proportion of the fissile isotope U_235 and (usually) the highly radioactive but rare isotope U_234, compared to natural uranium. ... Kinetic energy (also called vis viva, or living force) is energy possessed by a body by virtue of its motion. ... A shaped charge is an explosive charge shaped to focus the released energy. ... Munition is often defined as a synonyn for ammunition. ... A projectile is any object sent through the air by the application of some force. ... Kinetic energy (also called vis viva, or living force) is energy possessed by a body by virtue of its motion. ... Depleted uranium (DU) is uranium which contains a reduced proportion of the fissile isotope U_235 and (usually) the highly radioactive but rare isotope U_234, compared to natural uranium. ...

An alternate description of Chobham is that it combines spaced armour with composites. Supposedly the interior layer is a cast aluminum slab with rods of tungsten (encased in titanium) or depleted uranium running perpendicularly through it, intended to cause the points of high-velocity long-rod penetrator armour-piercing projectiles to deform, which sometimes causes the projectile to tip and strike the armour at an angle, presenting far greater surface area to the armour and therefore greatly increasing the resistance. An other possible type is perforated steel, with hollow spaces serving the same function that they do in spaced armour, often filled with ceramic foam and backed by layers of Kevlar or similar material to trap and reduce fragmentation. This is the type used in the original version of the Leopard 2. Composite armour is a type of armour consisting of layers of different material such as metals, plastics, ceramics or air. ... General Name, Symbol, Number Tungsten, W, 74 Chemical series Transition metals Group, Period, Block 6 (VIB), 6, d Density, Hardness 19250 kg/m3, 7. ... General Name, Symbol, Number Titanium, Ti, 22 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 4, 4, d Density, Hardness 4507 kg/m3, 6 Appearance Silvery metallic Atomic properties Atomic weight 47. ... Depleted uranium (DU) is uranium which contains a reduced proportion of the fissile isotope U_235 and (usually) the highly radioactive but rare isotope U_234, compared to natural uranium. ... Chemical structure of Kevlar. ... The Leopard 2 is a tank developed in the early 1970s by Germany first entered service in 1978, with versions of it serving with them and other countries in the late 1990s and into the 21st century. ...

Reactive armour, initially developed by Israel, uses layers of high explosive sandwiched between steel plates. When a shaped-charge warhead hits, the explosive detonates and pushes the steel plates into the warhead, disrupting the charge's plasma flow. It is less effective against kinetic penetrators. This article or section should include material from Explosive reactive armour Reactive armor or explosive reactive armour (ERA), is a type of armour used primarily on tanks to lessen the damage from explosions caused from missile warheads, exploding shells, grenades, or dropped bombs. ... This article is concerned solely with chemical explosives. ... Detonation is a process of supersonic combustion that involves a shock wave and a reaction zone behind it. ... The word plasma has a Greek root which means to be formed or molded (the word plastic shares this root). ...

Sloping and curving armour both increase the effective thickness, as a projectile striking at an angle must cut through more armour than one impacting perpendicularly. They also increase the chances of deflecting projectiles. The sloping front armour of a tank is often called the glacis, and provides the best protection as it is assumed to be the easiest part of the tank to hit. It is also made the thickest because the tank is usually considered an inherently offensive weapon, and it is has been assumed by designers since before the Second World War that a tank will be moving directly towards the enemy almost all the time; even on the defensive, a tank will be deployed in such a way as to have the glacis oriented in the direction from which the enemy is expected to attack. This article is about angles in geometry. ... A perpendicular line. ... Chance can be used in any of the following contexts: Probability Luck Randomness Chance is also a 2002 movie starring Amber Benson. ... A glacis, in military engineering (see Fortification and Siege) is an artificial slope of earth in the front of works, so constructed as to keep an assailant under the fire of the defenders to the last possible moment. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ...

Recently, many manufacturers have added a spall liner to the inside of the armour, which is designed to absorb fragmentation (spallation) released from the impact of an enemy shell, protecting soldiers and equipment inside. They tend to be made from kevlar or similar materials. Chemical structure of Kevlar. ...

The most heavily armored vehicles today are the Main battle tanks, which are the spearhead of the ground forces, and are designed to withstand anti-tank missiles, kinetic penetrators, NBC threats and in some tanks even steep-trajectory shells. The Israeli Merkava tanks were designed in a way that each tank component could use as an additional back-up armor to protect the crew. Outer armor is modular and enables quick replacement of damaged armor. The US M1A1 Abrams tank is a typical modern main battle tank. ... Anti-tank, or simply AT, refers to any method of combating military armored fighting vehicles, notably tanks. ... General characteristics Length: 7. ...

A recent development in the UK is of electrically charged armour. A vehicle is fitted with two thin shells. The outer shell of the vehicle contains an enormous electric charge, the inner shell is a ground. The shells are separate. When an incoming round arrives, it penetrates the outer shell and in doing so forms a bridge between the outer shell and the inner shell. The enormous electric charge in the outer shell discharges through the round and destroys it. Trials have so far been extremely promising.

See also

• Armour
• Armoured fighting vehicle
• Main Battle Tank