Tank ammunition
In tank ammunition is generally about the types of ammunition that are used in armored fighting vehicles.
Depending on the armament of a tank , this can include:
- Cartridge ammunition (strapped or in loading strips / clips) for machine gun (MG) or on-board machine cannon (BMK)
- Ammunition for on-board cannons , guided missiles , smoke missiles , etc.
Light ammunition
The ammunition for MG or on-board machine guns is usually fed to the weapon through belts. Various types of bullets can be used for this purpose:
- Soft core jacketed bullet
- Hard core or solid projectiles , with cores made of tungsten carbide or depleted uranium ( balancing projectiles )
- Explosives or incendiary devices
For better control during shooting or fire control, tracer cartridges (so-called tracking or tracer projectiles) are usually introduced at regular intervals, the projectile having a flare at the rear.
Heavy ammunition
The ammunition for the large-caliber on- board cannon , the main armament of a (combat) tank, is basically structured similar to normal ammunition and consists of the projectile, the propellant charge, the detonator (either fired by firing pin or electrically) and the cartridge (case) . There are a number of types of bullets. These can be differentiated in terms of type of stabilization and mode of action.
The stabilization can be done by wings or twist by trains and fields. Since the rotation of the projectile body around its longitudinal axis weakens the effect of a shaped charge grenade, these are preferably wing stabilized. Modern high-performance balancing projectiles are now practically always fired from smooth-barreled cannons.
With regard to the mode of action, the following structure is possible:
- HE shells are used against weakly and unarmored targets.
- Impact projectiles work solely through their kinetic energy . They penetrate armor without explosive effect.
- Pinch-head bullets are plastically deformable at their tip. The detonation of the explosive charge is triggered with a slight delay after the impact, after the explosive has deformed a flat, lens-shaped layer that is nestled close to the armor.
- Shaped charges develop due to an inserted, cavity-forming metal cone with arranged highly explosive explosives through explosion forming a cold-formed spike, which has an armor-piercing penetrating power.
- Guided missiles ( anti-tank guided missiles ) are fired from a special launcher. During the flight they remain connected to the armored vehicle's weapons system by a thin wire and are guided by the gunner to the target or have a fire-and-forget capability, which is ensured by imaging processes or, for example, a millimeter-wave steering head.
- Fog throwers are ejected from special throwing devices on the outside of the vehicle forwards and sideways. They are used to hide the position and direction of travel of the vehicle.
