Military tanks are one of the most important spearheads in real life battle.
Throughout history, tanks have been widely utilized in times of war, such as World War
I and II, Iraq War and Arab-Israel War. As a consequence, acquiring tanks is imperative for
countries not only to strive in warfare but also to strengthen their military supremacy.
Because of rapid technological advancement in warfare,
there are specific concerns on how countries should enhance their warfare equipment,
including tanks. The producing of army tanks has gone under significant transformations in history.
But have you ever wondered what military tanks are made of and how do they evolve throughout times?
Hello everyone, welcome back to another episode of Military TV.
In today’s episode we are going to discuss What Military Tanks Are Made Of And The
Reason Behind It. If you eager to learn more, don’t go anywhere and stay tuned.
Most of the body of military vehicles are made with particular armor.
The main purpose of this is to enhance the resilience of the vehicles in times of combat.
The same thing goes for the armor covering army tanks. In majority, tank armor is made of metal
or steel, but with advancement of warfare settings, different mixture of steel has
also been introduced to produce the tank armor. Steel armor plate was the earliest kind of armor.
It is also widely known as Rolled homogeneous armor (RHA). In contrast to layered or cemented
armor, this type of armor is comprised of a single steel composition that has been hot-rolled
to improve its material properties. During World War II, the Germans pioneered the use of
face-hardened steel, and the Soviets increased its protection with sloped armor technology.
With the introduction of shaped-charge warheads during World War II, homogeneous steel armor
became obsolete, as evidenced by the anti-tank Panzerfaust and bazooka infantry-carried weapons,
which were effective despite some early success with spaced armor.
On the other hand, another development of producing tank armor also being conducted by the
British. Chobham armor, or more broadly composite armor, was developed by British tank researchers,
and it incorporated ceramics and polymers in a resin matrix between steel plates, providing good
protection against High-explosive Anti-tank (HEAT). Because of the rapid development of
composite armor, RHA has been largely superseded, due to a reduction in effectiveness against new
weapons (primarily shaped charges and improved kinetic energy penetrators). From the introduction
of tanks until the Second World War, tank armor has been continuously thickened to withstand the
growing size and potency of anti-tank weaponry. A tank with enough armor could withstand the
most powerful anti-tank weaponry at the time. Nowadays, many modern tanks have large hollow
areas (boxes) on the turret and hull fronts, as well as turret sides, where special armor
is installed. This armor can be made of various alloys (aluminum or steel type),
plastics, alloys with rubber (bulge plate), ceramics (alumina, silicon, or boron carbide),
depleted uranium, or lithium grease in various geometric layouts and combinations.
This leads to a question of why the manufacturing of tank armor needs to evolve throughout times?
The primary reason is because the transformation of modern warfare and advancement of technology
has made it possible for the development of anti-tank weaponry meant to penetrate even
the thickest military tanks armor. Hence, it has been critical necessity to also modernize
tanks from single steel composition to different kinds of composite armor.
All of these efforts are fundamentally not only to increase the durability of the tanks in times
of conflict, but more importantly to protect the military officers who operate the tanks.
That’s all for today, thank you for your time and see you on the next episode!