The HES projectile has combined the advantages of HEF and
shrapnel projectiles possessing the axial distribution of fragments, thereby
considerably improving the shape of the lethal area and ensuring
more effective engagement of antiarmor-capable targets than in the case
of the HEF projectile. This is especially important with the limited capacity
of the tank ammunition load. These advantages have been achieved by arranging
a package of prefabricated fragments in the HEF projectile nose. Such design
has also compensated for range dispersion, which considerably reduces the
effectiveness of ordinary HEF projectiles during flat fire.
 he ammunition load
of modern tanks contains artillery rounds with armor-piercing fin-stabilized
(APFSDS), high-explosive antitank (HEAT), high-explosive fragmentation
(HEF) projectiles which are designed to fight various antiarmor-capable
targets. The latter include armored vehicles with powerful antitank armament
(tanks, infantry combat vehicles), antitank guided missile (ATGM) systems,
antitank infantry weapons, and attack helicopters fitted with ATGM systems.
APFSDS and HEAT rounds are used to fight combat vehicles, while HEAT and
HEF rounds with contact fuzes are used to engage other antiarmor-capable
targets that in a number of cases turn out more dangerous than combat vehicles.
 |
The fragmentation and high-explosive effect of HEF projectiles fired
from tank guns is not always sufficient to defeat antiarmor-capable targets.
The radial fragmentation pattern formed during the contact initiation of
the HEF projectile does not cover, as a rule, antiarmor-capable targets
located in the direction of projectile flight owing to firing range errors
and minor irregularities of terrain.
The problem was thoroughly looked into by specialists of the Mechanical
Engineering Research Institute (NIMI). As a result of extensive theoretical
and experimental investigations, two closely associated trends of upgrading
fragmentation tank ammunition were determined: the development of a round
with such a projectile which would create an additional field of fragments
in the front cone, i.e., the round with an HE-shrapnel (HES) projectile,
and the arrangement for an HES projectile air burst with the aid of an
electronic time/contact fuze with the initiation time set in the loading
mechanism or in flight.
The HES projectile has combined the advantages of HEF and shrapnel
projectiles possessing the axial distribution of fragments, thereby considerably
improving the shape of the lethal area (Fig. 1) and ensuring more effective
engagement of antiarmor-capable targets than in the case of the HEF projectile.
This is especially important with the limited capacity of the tank ammunition
load. These advantages have been achieved by arranging a package of prefabricated
fragments in the HEF projectile nose. Such design has also compensated
for range dispersion, which considerably reduces the effectiveness of ordinary
HEF projectiles during flat fire... |
Vladimir
Kireyev, Anatoly Yevtukhov, Eduard Sharendo