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Gen Q, armor: RPGs and countermeasures

Hello,

I am in the Pacific NW. Recently the regional news has been full of articles about the Stryker brigade now in Iraq. The most recent news I saw, had what I think was a Stryker after an RPG attack, the article was about a local death.

Anyway, I'm wondering about a few things.

First, why don't our vehilces have Chobham armor? At least I think that is it, the stuff the Isrealis developed in the 80s-90s that reacts explosively and redirects blasts away.

Second, I know in WWII the Germans and Russians used wire screens of mesh to detonate the rockets of the day, would something like that work against modern RPGs? I jsut saw a really good model of this on a T-34 in Finescale Modeler.

Finally, RPG stands for rocket propelled grenade (if I understand it), just how powerful are these things and how can they be enough to damage armored vehicles? Are they fire-and-forget or dumb or what?

I never really thought about most of this until the article the other day. I'm more interested in older periods so I haven't really kept up with modern tech. except in general terms. I appreciate any info from the public domain.

Reply to
SamVanga
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Do a google search on the Stryker. I found it before. There is a SCATHING report on the Stryker prepared for a congressman. Essentially, in '95 the US Army was stunned by the 30 days it took to move an Apache Squadron from Germany to Kosovo. General Shinseki (sp?) vowed to have a leaner meaner Army, not the garrison bound cold war army he inherited. He assumed the future army would be more involved in Kosovo-type peacekeeping missions. The Stryker was designed to be air portable (yeah right) and to save weight was proof only against .30 cal weapons. Now they are deployed in a country where RPGs are a fashon accessory. I have seen photos of Strykers with essentially burglar bars welded all over them as a stopgap. Like WWII where sandbags, bedframes, and sheet metal were used as RPG protection. RPGS have been around for some 60 years. Does the Army have no institutional memory whatsoever??? Kim M

Reply to
Royabulgaf

"SamVanga"

Check out the anti-RPG rig on this Stryker....scroll all the way to the bottom of the page:

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Kevin

Reply to
Kevin Carroll

Modern RPG grenades use a hollow charge warhead which can penetrate up to 16 inches of homogeneous steel armor. Chobham armor, also known by the code name Burlington, is a multilayer composite that can defeat both hollow charge warheads and hardened penetrators. It is too heavy for a wheeled vehicle, and too heavy to be practical on most tracked APCs. The Israeli-designed applique armor the first writer referred to is Explosive Reactive Armor, and can be fitted to some light armored vehicles, though there is a substantial weight penalty. It defeats hollow charge warheads but is not generally effective against solid penetrators. Light armored vehicles cannot always accommodate this type of protection, as the structure of the vehicle is too weak to withstand the blast effects. It is also hazardous to anybody outside the vehicle, as it is an explosive device. The Stryker is less armored than a Bradley or Abrams, but is a far better choice than a Humvee. GPO

Reply to
Lafimprov

I grant the Stryker is better armored than a Humvee. However, IIRC, the Humvee was designed to be used in non-combat situations, as command vehicles, light transport, etc. It's always a crap shoot guessing how the next war will be fought. Rumsfeld and Shinseki had some good ideas, but mission creep, gold-plating, and bad luck got in the way. Kim M

Reply to
Royabulgaf

Actually, HMMWVs were designed to replace the old M151A2 series Jeeps in all aspects, including the combat role of TOW missile carrier (M966, M1036) and light reconnaissance vehicle (M1025, M1026), bascially a modernized "Gun Jeep".

Reply to
Rob Gronovius

aren't there hummer vars with armor? didn't one get hit by an rpg and the crew survived?

Reply to
e

Yes, there are several uparmored variants as well as many variants that have add-on armor kits, field modifications of armor plates, etc.

Most heavily armored one I ever saw was a prototype of mine clearing control vehicle. Apparently a crew in a super uparmored HMMWV used a remote to control some type of smaller mine clearing vehicle. Never saw the R/C vehicle though.

Rob Gronovius Modern US armor at

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Reply to
Rob Gronovius

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