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The tank's most powerful weapon is its main armament, the 120mm HV
gun, but a high velocity cannon is not a very effective weapon for
close-in urban combat. Current low-profile tank hulls, and especially
turrets, restrict main gun elevation and depression angles, making it
impossible to use the main gun to engage targets in tall buildings or
low lying cellar bunkers at close range. Moreover, the high velocity
gun has a long barrel, which restricts traverse in narrow streets, and
makes it virtually impossible to engage targets on the flanks or to
the rear once the barrel is pointed forward. These so-called 'blind
spots' are the tank's most vulnerable areas.
In the area of ammunition, the rounds most often carried by current
tanks, APFSDS and HEAT, were designed for use against other tanks or
AFVs in open areas, and suffer from severely limited effectiveness
when used against short-range targets in urban terrain. Consequently,
a change of deployment zone from open area to urban environment would
require a pre-mission change of main gun rounds. This is a strenuous
and time consuming process and exposes the crew to unnecessary risks
from area fire weapons. Another ammunition change would be necessary
when moving from the urban environment back to an open area.
For several years, the standard NATO tank main gun has had a bore size
of 120mm. Only two types of cartridges are commonly used in these
120mm guns – Kinetic Energy (KE), such as APFSDS, and Chemical Energy
(CE) such as High Explosive cartridges optimized for Anti-Tank use
(HEAT). As KE ammunition is not normally suitable for urban use, tank
crews have been forced to make greater use of CE rounds, previously
regarded as 'secondary munitions'. Neither CE nor KE rounds, however,
are optimized for use in urban environments, where any of several
types of multi-purpose munitions would be more effective.
Multi-purpose tank round designs are based on various combinations of
fragmenting high-explosive charges, with limited penetration
capability, and are optimized for defeating concrete structures,
bunkers, walls, and light armored vehicles. Most of the available
multi-purpose rounds were designed for use by the NATO standard 105mm
guns, such as the British L-30 or by the Russian 105, 115 and 125mm
tank guns. The German firm Rheinmetall is developing a 120mm HE
projectile that is considered to be a balanced combination of AT and
MP. A similar goals is being pursued by General Dynamics with the
M830A1, a HEAT round fitted with fragmentation case, providing
additional "MP" effect.
Some of these multi-purpose munitions are equipped with time fuses for
producing airburst effects. An example is the famous flechette round,
which can be used to engage several types of soft targets at various
ranges with devastating effect. A modern replacement for the flechette
is the XM1028 round, which can be used against hostiles attempting to
climb onto buttoned-up friendly tanks and APCs. The advantage of the
XM1028 is that it can be fired at buttoned-up friendly vehicles, that
are in danger of arms-length attacks by hostile forces, without
risking damage to the vehicle, crew, antennas or optics. In situations
where restrictive rules of engagement limit the use of lethal
ammunition, flashbangs or tear-gas (CS) canisters can be used.
Integral mortars (60mm under-armor mortars are built into the IDF
Merkava) can also improve the tank's ability to engage targets at high
elevations and short ranges, where the main gun cannot be brought to
bear.
The following topics
are covered in this article:
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