Why Protecting Tanks is Getting Much More Difficult

Not What You Think
Not What You Think
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Published 2022-12-09
0:00 Anti-Tank Weapons Are ... Strange!
0:59 Short History of Tanks and Anti-Tank Weapons
1:47 How RPG-7 Improved on Bazooka and Panzerfaust
3:23 What Are Shaped Charges and How Do They Work?
5:20 The Achilles' Heel of Shaped Charges
7:06 What Are Insensitive Explosives and What is Special About Them?
8:22 What is the Explosive Lens Inside a Nuclear Weapon?
9:05 The 1966 Palomeras Accident and The Invention of Insensitive High Explosives
10:10 How Does Explosive Reactive Armor Work?
10:43 How Does Javelin Work Against Explosive Armor?
11:11 Why Active Protection Systems Are Needed
11:53 Are Tanks Obsolete?

Explosive Reactive Armor (ERA) has been around for a while, protecting against shaped charges like RPGs. But the effectiveness of ERA is now being challenged by more advanced HEAT missiles, like Javelins. What RPGs have in common with nuclear bombs, and what active protection systems can do to combat modern anti-tank weapons, is #NotWhatYouThink #NWYT #longs

Music:
Rise of the Velcro - Gabriel Lewis
Refined Enlightenment - Howard Harper-Barnes
Cloak - Christoffer Moe Ditlevsen
Before Nightfall - Christoffer Moe Ditlevsen
No Stone Unturned - Brendon Moeller
Blue Texas - Rockin' For Decades
Otherworld - Lama House

Footage:
Select images/videos from Getty Images
Shutterstock

US Department of Defense

Note: "The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement."
All Comments (21)
  • @NotWhatYouThink
    Do you think tanks stand a chance against the ever advancing anti-tank weapons? and what is the solution? "It's Not What You Think" is not an acceptable answer!! 😉
  • @ngut5915
    This is the opposite of clickbait. The title really doesn't do the content justice and you get a lot more from the video than expected. Very good content. Keep up the great work!
  • @00coyote80
    I think the future rolls of tanks will be battlefield coordination instead of direct combat. Heavy sensors, drones, soldier coordination, threat analysis, gear carrying. Kind of a mobile "forward base" until a safer front can be established.
  • @AJAtcho
    people have already repeated the notion that "the tanks is dead" after the end of WW1 yet here we are today nearly a century later still making tanks, even making robotic tanks
  • @siegmundeurades5753
    Also worth mentioning are the NLAW launchers, which forego tandem charges by flying over the top of the target, and then detonating a downwards-firing shaped charge. Effectively attacking one of the least armored parts of the tank (even with cope cages).
  • @Dragon359
    Reminds me a bit of Battleships. They were big and impressive looking, but by the end of WW2 they were quickly losing relevance since they started becoming big floating targets that just couldn't keep up.
  • @alexspindler1
    Extremely well produced video! Really focused, informative, and entertaining. Well done!
  • @andrewbrady6154
    I'm not even particularly interested in military tech, but this video was so well done that it had me hooked from beginning to end !
  • @dukem8774
    The issue is that our ability to destroy an object has become far greater than our ability to defend that object, and until some wizard in the DoD makes/releases some kind of magical energy shield tech and a portable fusion reactor to power it that isn't going to change.
  • @arthurnaut-1
    "So, how's the war going for you?" "I just want to go back home and see my family" "$H1T, ITS THE PROTON BEAM WEAPON"
  • @adyamski
    Absolutely brilliant video- cheers
  • @My_initials_are_O.G.cuz_I_am
    Another thing about cage armor against shaped charges: They have a chance of completely preventing the shaped charge of an RPG from exploding. This happens when the fuze of the grenade goes between the bars of the cage and the grenade gets broken apart before the fuze impacts main hull, hence, no explosion. As such, cage armor is a type of statistical armor, an armor that instead of only reducing damage, provides a chance of negating it.
  • @greg.peepeeface
    I hung out with an ex FMC tanks employee, and he said they were always trying to find a way to prevent projectiles from penetrating the tank (even hitting it, the fiberglass used would impact the tank, that people would itch from the fibers). His solution, just make it out of cardboard, so the projectile would go completely through, as a joke.