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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| New Israeli Tank Shells Capable of Penetrating Reinforced Hizbullah Targets |
| 2012-04-17 |
| [An Nahar] The Israeli army will receive new tank shells developed to penetrate reinforced targets, a crucial means for the military of the Jewish state which faces future conflicts with Hizbullah and Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,, The Jerusalem Post reported on Monday. The new 120 mm. shell called M339 can be fired by Merkava Mk 3 and Mk 4 tanks at extended ranges, the newspaper said. The shell explodes only after it penetrates a target and then releases thousands of lethal fragments. It was developed by Israel Military Industries together with the army's Ground Forces Command. The Jerusalem Post said M339 is the second new tank shell purchased by the Israeli army in the past year. It joins the Kalanit, which was recently deployed in tanks stationed along the border with the Gazoo Strip. Kalanit explodes midair over hard boyz hiding behind various obstacles such as boulders or vehicles. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #5 Happened to think about the old Sheridan. It had a Shillelagh gun-missile launcher. It could launch a microwave-guided antitank missile, or an artillery shell. Since the missile was the antitank weapon, there was no need for high velocity when firing the shell. So what they had was a fat, 152mm slow arty round. For direct fire in Viet Nam, they used HE and flechettes, one or the other as the targets were bunkers or troops in the open. Note that the area of a circle 152mm in diameter is about 60% greater than that of a circle 120mm in diameter. So if--if--the shell had the same length as the 120mm tank shell, the volume of explosive, flechetter, or anything else, would be much greater. How, the Sheridan is too lightly armored to be used in this or practically any other circumstance, but the point is either the guns or the schematics are still around someplace. Skip the missile. |
| Posted by: Richard Aubrey 2012-04-17 11:16 |
| #4 Why not just stick this on the armoured vehicle? |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2012-04-17 09:12 |
| #3 Tank shells are fired at high velocity and with flat trajectories. So they're going horizontally, more or less, and if they don't hit something sticking up, they just keep going. Main gun on a tank is for killing other tanks. Secondarily for blowing up buildings. IIRC, the US M1 doesn't have HE. Sabot and HEAT, maybe a beehive if they're legal--anybody know? So a mod like this is a big help, especially the one that has the shell exploding overhead. Keep in mind that the Arabs have the numbers and the IDF has the scientists. It's a kill-ratio thing and stuff like this helps. Especially if the building in question has an antitank missile crew. |
| Posted by: Richard Aubrey 2012-04-17 08:44 |
| #2 Standard anti-armor APFSDS do that by design, so what is so special about the new Israeli shell? Besides which, DU ignites after traveling a specific distance through reinforcement and the rod shatters into thousands of flaming white-hot BBs that ricochet like hell in a bunker. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2012-04-17 04:36 |
| #1 Tank that fires artillery shells---big deal. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2012-04-17 00:52 |