{"id":47394,"date":"2022-05-15T20:58:34","date_gmt":"2022-05-15T18:58:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/?p=47394"},"modified":"2024-05-15T00:07:00","modified_gmt":"2024-05-14T22:07:00","slug":"the-brutal-explosion-of-a-russian-t-72-tank-the-big-problem-of-the-loaders-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2022\/05\/15\/the-brutal-explosion-of-a-russian-t-72-tank-the-big-problem-of-the-loaders-again\/","title":{"rendered":"The brutal explosion of a Russian T-72 tank: the big problem of the loaders again"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On the occasion of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the usefulness of tanks in modern conventional warfare is being debated again.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><rel><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2022\/05\/12\/russia-already-lost-more-than-3600-vehicles-in-11-weeks-in-ukraine-these-are-their-types\/\">Russia already lost more than 3,600 vehicles in 11 weeks in Ukraine: these are their types<\/a><\/rel><br \/>\n<rel><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2022\/03\/13\/the-egg-cartons-of-the-russian-tanks-the-poor-protection-of-many-t-72b3-and-t-80\/\">The 'egg cartons' of the Russian tanks: the poor protection of many T-72B3 and T-80<\/a><\/rel><\/p>\n<p><big>The destruction of a Russian T-72B3 tank in the Donbass<\/big><\/p>\n<p>This afternoon some images have been released that could contribute even more to fueling that debate. The Ukrainian Army's <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCl_4qPLlyz_BZn7wSTHz5sg\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">K-2 Battle Group<\/a> has released a video showing <strong>an attack by a US-made FGM-148 Javelin missile on a Russian tank<\/strong> (identified as a T-72B3 by <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UAWeapons\/status\/1525846482141822977\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ukraine Weapons Tracker<\/a>). The attack took place <strong>near Maryinka, in Donetsk Oblast, in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbass<\/strong>, where fighting continues between the Russian invaders (who have not yet fully occupied the region) and their pro-Russian separatist allies, and the Ukrainian defenders:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"665\" height=\"374\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/STegMzX09G0\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><big>The two launch modes of the FGM-148 Javelin missile<\/big><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2022\/02\/28\/la-causa-del-tendal-de-los-tanques-rusos-asi-funciona-un-misil-antitanque-javelin\/\">As we have already seen here<\/a>, <strong>the Javelin has two launch modes: firstly there is the top attack mode<\/strong>, mainly directed against tanks and with which the Javelin rises above its target and then hits the tank's turret, which is one of its most vulnerable parts. That is why, <a href=\"http:\/\/<a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2022\/02\/28\/la-causa-del-tendal-de-los-tanques-rusos-asi-funciona-un-misil-antitanque-javelin\/\">\">at the beginning of the invasion, the Russians equipped their tanks with anti-missile grills<\/a>, <strong>believing that this would serve to mitigate the effects of the Javelin's warhead<\/strong>, formed by a HEAT precursor charge (which is intended to detonate the reactive armor plates) and two shaped charges in tandem, which pierce the interior armor of the vehicle. <strong>The reality is that it did not help<\/strong>, that is why Russian tanks have not shown that protection for weeks.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Javelin's second launch mode is direct attack<\/strong>, and is intended against bunkers, armored vehicles, and even helicopters. In this case, the missile rises a little after being launched, and then follows the most direct trajectory towards its target. <strong>What we see in that video is a Javelin launched with this mode, at least apparently.<\/strong> Although it is the least suitable for attacking tanks, the result for the T-72 is disastrous. I have reviewed the video and <strong>the missile must have hit one of the best protected parts of the tank: the front of the turret<\/strong> (the T-72's gun was aimed at about 25\u00ba from the missile's entry trajectory).<\/p>\n<p><big>The great vulnerability of Russian tanks: their automatic loader<\/big><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/es.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/T-72#\/media\/Archivo:Alabino05042017-40.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The T-72B3 has reactive armor plates in the turret<\/a>, but in this case they have not served to prevent disaster. The warhead of the missile managed to penetrate inside the vehicle. <strong>At 0:38 the large explosion caused by the impact of the missile is observed<\/strong>, which causes a large fire inside the vehicle, specifically in its center. Once there, he comes across <strong>the great vulnerability of the Russian tanks: their automatic loader.<\/strong> All Russian tanks since the T-64 carry it (the T-80 inherited the magazine from the T-64, and the T-90 inherited the magazine from the T-72, as we see in the following video).<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"665\" height=\"374\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JJzcY3ZNwcE\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>In Western tanks, the ammunition is in one piece<\/strong> (with the propellant in a metal case already attached to the shell and ready to be fired) <strong>and is also housed in armored compartments<\/strong> located at the rear of the turret and at the base of the chassis. This mitigates the effects of a hit for the crew. However,<strong> in Russian tanks the projection charges are separated from the projectiles, and both are housed in the base of the turret<\/strong>, with rather little protection, which means that any fire inside the vehicle has fatal consequences for crew.<strong> That's why Russian tank turrets have a habit of flying off when hit.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the video we have seen before, <strong>there is a second explosion that starts at 1:15: it is caused by the fire inside the tank when it reaches the projection charges<\/strong> located at the base of the turret. This has not flown, as it happens on other occasions, but seeing the images,<strong> the chances that the crew has survived are nil.<\/strong> In fact, fire is seen coming out of both the commander's and gunner's hatches (in the turret) as well as the driver's hatch. <strong>A terrible scene, indeed.<\/strong> Let's remember that this is not a video game: this is a real war.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On the occasion of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the usefulness of tanks in modern conventional warfare is being debated again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[19536,11544],"tags":[16581,16122,14797,16582,12043,16153,15458,15307,16151],"class_list":["post-47394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-we-said-yesterday","category-army","tag-donbass","tag-donetsk","tag-fgm-148-javelin","tag-k-2-battle-group-of-the-ukrainian-army","tag-russian-army","tag-russian-invasion-of-ukraine-of-2022","tag-t-72","tag-ukraine","tag-ukrainian-army"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47394"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47394\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}