Chapter 844

What is the most important thing about armor-piercing projectiles? Of course speed! With speed, there is energy, and in the process of penetrating armor, it is the process of continuous reduction of kinetic energy, and the storage speed of artillery shells is very important.

At the same time, another aspect, which is also very important, is the diameter of the warhead.

Under the same energy, it is definitely easier to tear a small hole than a large hole. Therefore, with this idea, Krupp engineers began to study how to make tank shells thinner.

This result is a sub-caliber armor-piercing projectile.

As the name suggests, the sub-caliber is a smaller caliber. This kind of shell is equivalent to a sandwich structure.

The outer warhead is a traditional caliber warhead, which accounts for about 60% of the entire armor-piercing projectile. The inner warhead has a sharper inner warhead. This diameter is much smaller than the diameter of the artillery shell.

When firing, the shell is fired like a normal shell. When it hits the tank armor, the warhead is shaken, and the rear of the sub-caliber warhead is filled with inert gunpowder, and the warhead inside is fired.

In this way, the outer steel warhead will penetrate the armor, and the inner tungsten alloy sub-caliber warhead will also penetrate the armor. Even if the outer one cannot penetrate, the inner warhead has a smaller diameter and is easier to penetrate. Such a deep penetration , with new improvements.

"We have now completed the development of the 75mm sub-caliber shell, which is more than 30 percent better than the existing ordinary armor-piercing shells," said Alfred.

The initial development was not for the 88mm gun, because the performance of this gun was sufficient, and the main armor of any opponent's tank would be penetrated.

In the equipment of the German army, there are also a large number of 75mm towed anti-tank guns, which will be the main infantry anti-tank weapons of Germany in recent years. Therefore, the first thing to be done now is to improve the performance of this anti-tank gun. , after all, the barrel of this gun is not long, and the power is not as good as the 88mm gun.

A 30% increase in performance is definitely a sky-high figure, and Alfred is very confident.

In later generations, in the late World War II, the technology of German sub-caliber armor-piercing projectiles has been developed and expanded to all aspects. Compared with all projectiles made of tungsten alloy, it is much cheaper and has better armor-piercing ability.

but…

Cyric frowned and said lightly: "I think there is still a lot of room for improvement in this kind of shell, that is to say, our armor-piercing shell mainly relies on the sub-caliber core inside to penetrate the opponent. If the armor is heavy, then the heavy warhead outside is a burden."

It relies on the inner core to penetrate, but the outer part occupies 60% of the weight. Isn't this a burden?

Hearing Cyric's proposal, the Krupp experts present couldn't help but shudder. How could they explain it to the Fuhrer?

The reason is very simple. The muzzle is so thick that it cannot reach the outer part. How to keep it sealed with the barrel? Is it possible for an anti-tank gun with a caliber of 75 mm to launch a core with a diameter of more than ten centimeters?

Cyric continued to state his point of view: "I think the outer part can be removed completely, so that the warhead is thinner, the air resistance is less, the storage speed in the air is high, and at the same time, the same barrel Under the same energy, a lighter warhead can obtain a higher initial velocity, and for an anti-tank gun, the higher the velocity of the shell, the better."

"So, how do we solve the problem of airtightness?" Alfred asked, because he knew that since Cyric mentioned that, there must be a way!

"It's simple, we add a sling with the same diameter as the muzzle at the back, wouldn't that solve the problem?" Cyric said: "When it flies away from the muzzle, let the sling fall off, and only let the bullet in front fall off. Wouldn't it be better for thin armor-piercing projectiles to fly?"

Suddenly, everyone opened their mouths, not bad! This is indeed a good idea, why didn't you think of it?

Führer Cyric is really a genius!

"At the same time, I think that the slender projectile may roll over in flight, so we can install a tail at the rear of the projectile for stabilization," Cyric continued.

Of course, these are not what Cyric came up with. This is originally a common tail-stabilized shell-piercing armor-piercing projectile in later generations!

The armor-piercing projectile body is sandwiched by a light shell carrier. The caliber of the bullet carrier is the same as the caliber of the cannon. The armor-piercing bullet is made into a slender rod shape. The tube points to keep flying, which is where the term "shell out" comes from.

At the same time, in order to ensure the stability and accuracy of the slender projectile during flight, when manufacturing the armor-piercing projectile, four tail wings are installed at the tail, which are arranged in a cross shape, so it is called "tail wing stability".

The only difference is that the smoothbore gun is common in later generations, and the tail is used to maintain stability, because this kind of shell does not rotate when it flies out, and now the common rifled gun still needs to use the tail, which is British experience.

Because, this kind of thing was actually invented by the British. In the late World War II, the British came up with this new type of ammunition and successfully used it on the 17-pound anti-tank gun.

Ordinary hollow charge armor-piercing projectiles can penetrate 130mm of armor at 500 meters, and after using shelling armor-piercing projectiles, the penetration depth under the same conditions reaches an astonishing 204mm! Absolutely defiant existence!

Now that the United Kingdom has been conquered, there is no need to worry about this kind of armor-piercing ammunition. Germany is still studying this new ammunition as a technical reserve. Moreover, new technologies have many unknown risks.

For example, although the British in history had such shelling armor-piercing projectiles, they had low precision, large dispersion and small number, so there were not many practical applications, and Germany would definitely encounter many problems if they wanted to study them.

This sub-caliber armor-piercing projectile has matured, and the next step is to develop a more excellent shell-piercing projectile!

"In addition to armor-piercing projectiles, we are still working on the protection of armor." Alfred continued: "Right now, we are working on ceramic materials, sandwiched between two layers of armor, hoping to improve armor protection."

Germany has the best armored steel, and has also developed a rat-type tank weighing nearly 200 tons. However, the final orthodoxy is still the king of composite armor, and this thing depends on the accumulation of industry and some luck.

German researchers are actively researching new technologies. At the same time, in the factory, Tiger tanks have finally begun to enter the production stage in large quantities according to the finalized plan.

On the battlefields of North Africa, fierce battles continued.