[ Still waiting to be slapped down by someone who's pissed off about this crypto-free thread, or else for the NSA to have the FBI arrest all us mad bombers :-) ] Mike Duvos writes:
The idea is that the uranium penetrates the armor and the charge then explodes once the round is inside.
I don't know much about modern munitions, but I do know that armor piercing rounds may have no charge in them at all. Generally, when a round pierces one side of a vehicle, it loses enough energy and is suitably deformed to prevent exit from the opposite wall. It does, however, bounce around quite a bit, which can be plenty of fun in a tank loaded with equipment, munitions, and soldiers. It was discovered in the second world war that (with then-current metallurgical techniques) introduction of a high-explosive charge into the armor piercing round tended to reduce its effectiveness by weakening the structure. | GOOD TIME FOR MOVIE - GOING ||| Mike McNally <m5@tivoli.com> | | TAKE TWA TO CAIRO. ||| Tivoli Systems, Austin, TX: | | (actual fortune cookie) ||| "Like A Little Bit of Semi-Heaven" |