Mysterious weapon used on US forces in Iraq

From the ArmyTimes:

Shortly before dawn on Aug. 28, an M1A1 Abrams tank on
routine patrol in Baghdad �was hit by something� that crippled the
69-ton behemoth.
Army officials still are puzzling over what that �something� was.
According to an unclassified Army report, the mystery projectile
punched through the vehicle�s skirt and drilled a pencil-sized hole
through the hull. The hole was so small that �my little finger will
not go into it,� the report�s author noted.
The �something� continued into the crew compartment, where it
passed through the gunner�s seatback, grazed the kidney area of the
gunner�s flak jacket and finally came to rest after boring a hole
1� to 2 inches deep in the hull on the far side of the tank. As it
passed through the interior, it hit enough critical components to knock
the tank out of action. That made the tank one of only two Abrams
disabled by enemy fire during the Iraq war and one of only a handful of
�mobility kills� since they first rumbled onto the scene 20 years
ago. The other Abrams knocked out this year in Iraq was hit by an
RPG-7, a rocket-propelled grenade.
Experts believe whatever it is that knocked out the tank in August was
not an RPG-7 but most likely something new � and that worries tank
drivers.
---SNIP---
�It�s a real strange impact,� said a source who has worked both
as a tank designer and as an anti-tank weapons engineer. �This is a
new one. � It almost definitely is a hollow-charge warhead of some
sort, but probably not an RPG-7� anti-tank rocket-propelled grenade.
The well-known RPG-7 has been the scourge of lightly armored vehicles
since its introduction more than 40 years ago. Its hollow-charge
warhead easily could punch through an M1�s skirt and the relatively
thin armor of its armpit joint, the area above the tracks and beneath
the deck on which the turret sits, just where the mystery round hit the
tank.
An RPG-7 can penetrate about 12 inches of steel � a thickness far
greater than the armor that was penetrated on the tank in Baghdad. But
the limited spalling evident in the photos accompanying the incident
report all but rules out the RPG-7 as the culprit, experts say.
Limited spalling is a telltale characteristic of Western-manufactured
weapons designed to defeat armor with a cohesive jet stream of molten
metal. In contrast, RPG-7s typically produce a fragmented jet spray.
The incident is so sensitive that most experts in the field would talk
only on the condition that they not be identified. One armor expert at
Fort Knox, Ky., suggested the tank may have been hit by an updated RPG.
About 15 years ago, Russian scientists created tandem-warhead
anti-tank-grenades designed to defeat reactive armor. The new round, a
PG-7VR, can be fired from an RPG-7V launcher and might have left the
unusual signature on the tank.
In addition, the Russians have developed an improved weapon, the
RPG-22. These and perhaps even newer variants have been used against
American forces in Afghanistan. It is believed U.S. troops seized some
that have been returned to the United States for testing, but scant
details about their effects and �fingerprints� are available.
Still another possibility is a retrofitted warhead for the RPG system
being developed by a Swiss manufacturer.

Posted by flow Frazao on November 6, 2003 at 03:59 PM | Permalink