'New hat, old hat': kinetic-energy ammunition solution for British tank guns

摘要

Formal clearance from the UK Ministry of Defence's (MoD's) Defence Ordnance Safety Group (DOSG) for service acceptance of the obsolete L23A1 armour-piercing fin-stabilised discarding sabot tracer (APFSDS-T) shot in combination with the more-modern L18A1 charge was granted on 16 September. This concludes several decades of ill-starred attempts to provide an improved-performance alternative to the 30+ year-old L23A1 projectile with its tungsten alloy penetrator. The latter is fired from the L1 1A5 and L30A1 120 mm rifled guns respectively fitted to British-made Challenger 1 and Challenger 2 tanks (and to the Chieftain before it, in the case of the L11) .