Effectiveness of spaced armour
1966 report conducted with live trials
Written by: yours truly / No AI was used in the process of this, including rephrasing and images
Date of writing: 11/04/2026 12:55
A translated report from OBK-710 detailing a series of tests conducted regarding the effectiveness of spaced armour arrays.
ME - Mass efficiency, with 1 being the effectiveness of the mass if it was a homogenous plate, eg: 60mm RHA has an ME of 1
FINDINGS
Context: Total thickness is 60mm for all plates, air gap was found to reduce effectiveness, so air gap was kept consistently within 5mm
Test 1:
General observations:
Unangled test: It was observed that when when the target plates were unangled, the split plates (tested, 5mm, 10mm, 15mm) performed worse than the homogenous target, with efficiency dropping with the thickness of the plates
Angled test: It was observed that when the target plates were angled at an angle of 30 degrees, split plates (testing 5mm, 10mm, 15mm) were more efficient for mass than the homogenous plate.
It was observed that stacking plates directly onto each other did not affect performance of the armour
Recorded results:
Unangled test: No results recorded
Angled test:
- 60mm @ 30 degrees - 73mm effective
- 60mm split into 5mm plates @ 30 degrees - 86mm effective
- When split into 10mm plates, a ME of 1.18 was observed
Test 2:
Context: To simulate a real array, a 10mm front plate angled at 15 degrees horizontally, and a backplate measuring 10mm unangled were used
Recorded results:
- 5mm plates @ 30 degrees - 106mm
- 10mm plates @ 30 degrees - 105mm
- 60mm plate @ 30 degrees - 93mm
Test 3:
Context: To better remove possible inconsistencies with the trial, the horizontally angled plate was instead changed to be angled from the vertical
Recorded results:
- 5mm plates @ 30 degrees - 105mm
- 10mm plates @ 30 degrees - 104mm
- 60mm plate @ 30 degrees - 90mm
- 5mm plates @ 30 degrees therefore have a ME of 1.17
CONCLUSION
5mm plates are more effective for their mass than a homogenous plate in the contexts of tank protection, recommended for committee is further research into the effectives of spaced plates the and effect the front and back plate possess.
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