Explosively formed penetrators - Infantry 1,Tank 0

[2RHPZ]

Man versus machine, soldiers taking on tanks -- it's been a back-and-forth struggle, but infantry has the current advantage with EFP -- explosively formed penetrators.

Full article:
http://www.military.com/soldiertech/0,14632,Soldiertech_EFP,,00.html?ESRC=soldiertech.nl

BTW, there is


As a prominent example of EFP put to use, check out the XM303 Special Operations Forces Demolition Kit (SOFDK), designed for the Army's Special Operations Forces.

[GazB]

Hmmm... seems to suggest Self Forging Fragments are something new...

and all powerful... they are neither.

The material they are made of is not hard like tungsten or DU and while they have very high veloicities most of their so called power comes from the fact that they tend to be top attack weapons and are used against the thin roofs of tanks.

Most of the SFF look more like shuttlecocks in flight rather than the semi pointed dart shown in the article.

The same problem with early steel penetrators will apply... if it hits a material harder than it is it will more than likely just shatter than penetrate.

SFF can't be made too hard or they will remain unaerodynamic disks with poor penetration capability... too soft and they won't hold together to penetrate hard armour.

Fine for cluster bombs and cargos for unguided rockets with IIR and MMW radar sensors to detect targets but HEAT or SC is still rather more efficient in weight and size.