Time Travel 04: I Fight the US in the Middle East

Seeing the spectacular scene of the M1 tank exploding in the distance, Majid was stunned. This... they actually managed to blow up the M1 tank?

How did you do that?

Azam smiled; the makeshift weapon he'd created had actually worked!

There are two main types of weapons for dealing with tanks. The conventional one is armor-piercing projectiles, which are essentially a head-on collision. They rely on the enormous kinetic energy of a thin alloy penetrator to forcefully penetrate the tank's armor!

The rod generates heat through friction during the process, and once inside the tank, it splatters around, killing the tank crew and detonating ammunition and fuel...

Rocket launchers and anti-tank missiles have relatively low flight speeds, only two or three hundred meters per second, which is incomparable to armor-piercing projectiles that fly at speeds of over 1,500 meters per second!

How does it attack tanks?

The answer lies in the energy-concentrating warhead!

The front of this type of warhead has a conical or trumpet-shaped metal shaped charge liner, usually made of copper, and is filled with high-energy explosives at the rear.

The shock wave generated after the explosion converged along the normal direction of the surface of the explosive liner, forming a thin, high-speed metal jet in the center of the metal liner!

The temperature must be over 1,000 degrees Celsius, after all, it is the temperature of molten copper, and the speed is as high as 8,000 to 10,000 meters per second.

This jet of metal burned through the armor and penetrated the interior, leaving a trail of fire wherever it passed...

However, all of these have to be flown over, and for poorly equipped guerrillas, it is difficult to manufacture precision-guided weapons. So... a genius came up with the idea of ​​using this thing as a roadside bomb!

By simply rotating the tank 90 degrees and spraying the metal jet upwards, you can burn through the tank's chassis!

This is the thing that just destroyed the M1 tank!

He made a few copper plates out of brass salvaged from a Hummer. He couldn't hammer them into cones, but he could hammer them into bowls. He filled the bottom with explosives and set pull-trigger fuses on top...

The device was rudimentary, but it worked very well!

When an M1 tank hits a rock, it pulls the fuse. At that moment, the tank happens to be driving right under the rock, and the jet of water burns upwards through the tank's bottom plate, causing it to explode!

This wasn't his design; it was a product of the Yituo battlefield. If we're talking about it... it's very likely that the Langtuo Holy City Brigade taught it to the Yituo guerrillas!

Even laymen know that on the Iraqi battlefield, the US military was most afraid of IEDs, but the US military was even more afraid of this thing they had made, and even gave it a professional name: EFP!

Explosively Formed Penetrator, which is an armor-piercing projectile, unlike IEDs, does not scatter the explosives but uses a copper disc to concentrate them, which is... a shaped charge warhead!

This thing is designed to attack the chassis! Even a mine-resistant chassis can't stop it! Not even an M1 tank!

Historically, after the US military finished fighting the war, the first M1 tank was destroyed in August 2004 by an RPG. On November 22, 2004, the second M1 tank was destroyed by a roadside bomb, which was an EFP!

The US military was terrified of this thing and searched for it everywhere, even seizing a large number of copper plates. However, this thing was easy to manufacture and could not be eradicated. It was not until the US military left that EFP disappeared from the battlefield!

Now... let this thing unleash its combat power ahead of schedule!

Although they were advancing in a horizontal line, there were still slight differences in the forward speed of the different tanks.

At the very front was the tank of Company Commander O'Daniel, and it was the first to be destroyed. Just as the company commander's tank exploded, the commanders of the other tanks let out desperate roars.

"Brake! Brake! Brake!"

Those damn guerrillas, they've gone too far!

The first two times were fake, but this time it's for real!

Moreover, what kind of bomb could detonate an M1 tank?

only……

Stopping a tank weighing over 60 tons isn't that easy!

Boom! Boom!

Two explosions rang out in quick succession!

On the 1-35AR tank.

Before the commander could even give the order, the driver slammed on the brake pedal with his left foot. The screeching sound of the brake pads sent shivers down his spine. Unfortunately, the tank, weighing over sixty tons, had immense inertia and couldn't stop instantly!

That's right, the left foot is used for braking. Unlike automatic cars where the right foot is used for braking, the M1 tank is operated with the right foot on the accelerator and the left foot on the brake. Therefore, M1 tank drivers are better off not driving cars, as the muscle memory formed is not easy to change. If they try to brake suddenly with their left foot, they'll just miss the brake pedal...

The loader, propelled forward by the immense inertia, slammed onto the breechblock, his chest throbbing with pain. The commander and gunner stared wide-eyed through their night vision goggles as the rock ahead drew ever closer...

Boom!

The tank still crashed into the rock in front of it before it came to a complete stop!

It's over, it's over!

Just when everyone in the car thought they were about to meet their maker...

One second, two seconds, three seconds...

No explosion was heard!

It's okay!

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully, it seemed not all the stones bounced off in succession; the other side simply didn't have that much equipment. Some unlucky guys just ran into the real ones...

Finally, all the tanks came to a stop. The lucky survivors looked at the tanks that had exploded and burned, feeling a sense of relief at having escaped death. They kept making the sign of the cross on their chests, thanking God!

We can't advance any further; it's time to send the infantry up!

With a roar, the convoy of M2 infantry fighting vehicles came quickly!

Before they even got close, they saw three burning flames.

"What are they doing? Are they going to open fire on the village?" Lieutenant Colonel Robert Parker joked from the command vehicle.

"No, Lieutenant Colonel, it's an M1 tank burning!" Captain Edwin Schmidt's face was filled with horror. "Damn it, we've lost three tanks at once!"

Even amidst the raging flames, the outline of a tank could still be vaguely seen. The guerrillas certainly didn't have such a thing; it could only be one of their own!

Good heavens, today is not April Fool's Day!

They believed that roadside bombs could damage tank tracks, but how could these damned guerrillas manage to detonate a tank... something even the Iraqi army couldn't do?

"Second Battalion calling Tank Company, what happened? Did you encounter an RPG?" Lieutenant Colonel Robert Parker picked up the radio and asked personally.

The M1 tank has powerful protection; its depleted uranium armor is practically alien technology. However... it can't have high-intensity protection everywhere, otherwise the tank's weight would soar to two hundred tons!

The engine compartment, fuel tank, gaps on the sides and rear of the turret, the top of the hull... these are all weak points of the M1 tank! However... for infantry to carry RPGs and get close enough to launch an attack is practically suicide!

A moment later, a frustrated voice rang out: "It's not an RPG, it's a roadside bomb!"

Was it really a roadside bomb? What kind of roadside bomb could destroy an M1 tank?