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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

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1.0 Introduction

This chapter will describe the overview of the project, the objectives, the problem statement,
the project scope and finally the thesis outline of the project.

1.1 Overview

Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA) is an extremely simple and effective addition to

conventional armour. It offers significant protection against shaped charge attack. In view of
NATO’s reliance on HEAT warheads (approximately 70% of NATO’s anti armour weapons
use the shaped charge principle) the fielding of ERA by soviets is causing major concern 1.
This project entitled “The Analysis of Explosive Reactive Armour against KE Penetrator and
Explosive Detonation” was assigned to study the effect of KE penetrator impact and
explosion impact onto ERA system and comparison between both impacts will be analyzed.
This project is using Ansys Autodyn 13.1 as a ballistic simulation software package. The
history of ERA is described and the mechanism studied. The explosive initiation theories are
explored. The simulation result will be analyzed and discussed. Conclusion and
recommendation are compiled at the end of the project report.

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Capt. WG CUBITT., “Method of Distrupting Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA)”, 25 Army Command and Staff and No.4 Dagger
Courses, Student Project 1990.

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1.2 Objective

The objectives of this project are:

 To study conduct analysis of effect of kinetic energy (KE) penetrator compared to

explosive detonation against Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA) by using Ansys
Autodyn ballistic simulation software package.

1.3 Problem statement

Historically, the competition between armour and anti armour systems has stimulated
advances in both technologies. This competition continues today, and developments in vehicle
protection systems provide the context for recent advance future direction in anti armour
technology.

In 1970s, large number of Main Battle Tanks (MBT) was defeated by shaped charge
attack. Yom Kippur War show that Israeli’s lost a lot number of MBTs because of shaped
charge attack as Soviet first generation Sagger missiles, which were widely issued to the Arab
forces ranged against them2.

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VAN NIEKERK , “17th International Synposium on Ballistic” , MIDRAND SOUTH AFRICA, March 1998

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Invention of ERA giving great discovery of to vehicle armoured systems especially

MBT. From the day ERA was invented, many countries have developed their MBTs with
ERA systems. This additional system can be very effective against various attacks like High
Explosive Anti Tank (HEAT), Light Anti-armour Weapons (LAW), Rolled Homogenous
Armour (RHA), Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) and also Kinetic Energy (KE) penetrator.

In this modern warfare, the ERA is a must in order to help increase protection for the
armoured vehicles from any anti-tank penetration. Malaysia is also one of the countries that
use this ERA system for our armoured vehicles.

Function of developing ERA is to withstand and resist higher level of threats and it is
proven. But it is relevant that KE weapon like small arm rifle can initiate the ERA system by
a single shot? If that so, unfair to spent a lot of money to create the ERA system but it is
worth with single bullet. A research need to be done to find out the capability of KE
penetrator and explosive detonation onto the ERA system.

1.4 Project Scope

The scope of the project consists of:

 To conduct ballistic simulation to see the sequence of reaction of ERA on impact by

kinetic energy (KE) penetrator projectile and explosion detonation

 To analyze the differences of this two impact mechanisms onto ERA

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1.5 Thesis Outline

This project report consists of 5 major chapters. Each chapter is divided into
subchapters that each of them will be discussing different matter of the project. The first
chapter consists of the project overview, the problem statement, and the objectives of the
project, the project scopes and finally the thesis outline.

The second chapter describes the literature review of the project. In this chapter, it
includes the overview of the history of ERA system, development of ERA, type of reactive
armour and principal and phenomenology of ERA. Besides that, information about variousity
method of initiating explosive and explosive initiation theory also includes in this chapter.

The third chapter describes the methodology used in order to accomplish the project.
In this chapter describes the guideline in completing the project as example, Flow chart and
Grant chart are shown in this chapter as a guideline in scheduling the project and time
limitation for every activity for the final year project. Conceptual design and material
selection process also shown in this chapter.

The fourth chapter will present the results that were obtained and the analyzing that
were made throughout the project. This chapter discusses the steps and technique that were
used to run the simulation.

The fifth chapter consists of the conclusion of the project and recommendations. The
conclusion of the project is an overall summary of the project. This chapter also includes the
recommendation for this project for future improvement.