Combat damage assessment team A-10/GAU-8 low angle firings versus simulated Soviet tank company (Array 25) : (LAVP lot no. AJD79A181-001) (4 December 1979)

摘要

This report describes LAVP firings of the A-10/GAU-8 weapon system on 4 December 1979 against a Soviet tank company simulated by 10 combat loaded M-47 tanks. The pilots making the firing passes attacked at low altitude and used correspondingly low dive angles in order to simulate movement through a hostile air defense system. Ammunition used in the attacks comprised 30mm armor piercing incendiary (API) rounds which proved to be effective damage agents against substantial areas of the US MK 47 tanks used as targets. The pilots in ten successful firing passes fired a total of 381 rounds fo which 139 impacted the targets. Of the projectiles impacting on targets, 22 achieved perforations of the armored envelope. The simulated Soviet tank company was destroyed as a combat formation based on the assessment of damage to individual tanks