ofp85

Help to find please web-sites where it is told about use M1A2 In Iraq. I live in Russia. On Russian Internet it is not possible to find a trustworthy information about an opportunity or impossibility of destruction M1A2 Abrams with help RPG-7. It would be desirable to know your opinion. I badly am guided in your wab-sites devoted to army, therefore I shall be very grateful if will give the reference here or on the address of my e-mail.

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	m1a2.jpg (43.0 KB, 2097 views)

RepublicanGuard

That is messed up

How could a early 60's vintage RPG-7 do that to the frontal mantlet of an M1A2?
It looks like the RPG round even penetrated the tank I would think of the M1, like all modern MBTs ( Challengers, Merkavas, Leopards, T-80Us and T-90s ) to be immune to shoulder fired anti tank devices.

Correct me if im wrong ( i seriously think i am in this case ) but it looks as if the RPG-7 did in fact penetrate the turret. I'd like to know what range he fired that RPG at too must have been like a 10 M distance or something due to the armor of the Abrams series.

ofp85

In the first photo a hole not from RPG-7. It I think result of influence kornet. The tank is intact! At RPG-7 there is very modern ammunition PG-7VR (I do not know were in Iraq whether or not).That happened to Abrams on this photo?

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RepublicanGuard

Kornet? Is that an RPG-26 or one of the newer russian shoulder fired ATGW's?

ofp85

Kornet it is a portable anti-tank rocket complex.
The complex will consist of a launcher and a rocket in the container - a trunk. It is possible also installation on combat material. Prompting of a rocket on the purpose semi-automatic, on a beam of the laser. The channel of a beam of the laser has high noise immunity of prompting of a rocket in conditions of fighting application.
The rocket has a powerful cumulative fighting part and amazes modern and perspective tanks from any foreshortenings. A warhead of two kinds - cumulative or demolition. The rocket with a demolition fighting part of volumetric explosion effectively destroys various constructions, rocket launchers, and also fighting machines of infantry. Probably Kornet it was delivered to Iraq from Syria. Probably Kornet destroyed M1A2. I everywhere searched for acknowledgement{confirmation} or a refutation from competent sources.

Official position of the American side-
NO catastrophic losses due to Iraqi direct or indirect fire weapons
Several tanks were destroyed due to secondary effects attributed to enemy weapon systems
Majority of losses attributed to mechanical breakdown and vehicle either being stripped for parts or severely vandalized by Iraqi people
No reported case of an AGTM ever being fired at any U.S. Army vehicle
No Kornet missiles found in country

Frontal turret and hull armor continues to provide excellent crew protection. Top, side, and rear armor remains susceptible to penetration
Documented instances where 25mm AP-DU and above ammunition disabled a tank from the rear
Left and right side non-ballistic skirts repeatedly penetrated by anti-armor RPG fire
Cosmetic damage only when struck by anti-personnel RPG rounds
No reported hits on ballistic skirts
No reported instance of tank hitting an anti-tank mine

How you count it the truth?

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leib10

The range at which the RPG is fired does not matter due to the shaped-charge it uses. If it were a kinetic energy weapon (i.e., traditional armor piercing shot) it would definitely matter as to the range between the target and the firer. But since the RPG projectile has the same amount of explosive regardless of range, it will do the same damage regardless of range.

axl

whenever there is a picture of a hit abrams there is somebody stating something like "this can't be a rpg-7, this must have been kornet or so". but why? beside that there has no kornet been around, rpg-7 is still a nice weapon! yes it is old and the ones used in iraq are bad quality ones. but it's still (most of the time) a heat round! and no tank, how fancy it may be, is immune to a heat round. the tanks are still using steel and aluminium, even if there are more fancy materials used inside. but you will still see the impact.
with the rpg-7 you can fire several different types of rockets, which might be an explanation for different impact pictures. a he round gives a different result on armour than a heat one. moreover i have seen now too many rpg-7 rounds fired with the security caps sitting on top of the fuze...this round will never explode.
please keep also in mind that there is not only the rpg-7 available. must have been in 2003, where an abrams got penetrated from the side. and everybody was talking about kornet and fancy anti-tank weapons. i even heard about a rail gun... finally it came out that an old, german designed armbrust did it.

regards
axl

www.kampfpanzer.de

Shuriff

Some info on RPG:
Currently RPG complex has 5 types of rounds:
hollow charge PG-7VS (1974), PG-7VL (1977), tandem hollow charge PG-7VR (1987), thermobaric TBG-7V (1997) and fragmentation OG-7V (1999).

From these Iraquis most probably had PG-7VS and PG-7VL. In theory these can penetrate Amrams with a lucky shot from 300-400 meters.

axl

the list of rounds for the rpg-7 is a bit longer than only five. just to give you an idea, here are some more (this is not a complete list):

pg-7
pg-7v
pg-7vm
pg-7vn
pg-7vl
pg-7vr
pg-7vs
og-7v
tbg-7v
ko-7v
gtb-7g

as alot of countries developed individual rounds, you could come to dozens of types.

regards
axl

www.kampfpanzer.de

Dima

wow, yo opf you got anymore pictures or a site with more pictures of M1A2's getting destroyed, or just any pics of destroyed tanks? anybody?

__________________
for MOTHER MOLDOVA

Praxus

Do you guys realise that the penetration is only about a quater of an inch. It appears big because the IFF deal got busted apart. The shot in the skirt doesn't prove anything, a SLAP round could do that.

Anon

Neither one of the tanks in the first two pix looks destroyed, or even disabled.

dave angel

i know that 1BW had a warrior armoured infantry fighting vehicle that was saupposed to have been hit by 16 - yes sixteen - seperate RPG rounds.

and it still worked, bit of a mess though...

Anon

During the US Army 'thunder run' into baghdad there were numerous tanks that were hit by over a dozen RPGs each, and IIRC all of them continued in the fight.

Dima

yes, i've also heard some reports about Russian T-72 tanks in Chechnya, several RPG shots, one withstood i think 26 and another withstood 18, those are the only two that 've heard of