Kanchan armour
Encyclopedia
Kanchan Armour is the name informally given to a modular composite armour
Composite armour
Composite armour is a type of vehicle armour consisting of layers of different material such as metals, plastics, ceramics or air. Most composite armour are lighter than their all-metal equivalent, but instead occupy a larger volume for the same resistance to penetration...

 indigenously developed by India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. The Kanchan Armour got its name from Kanchan Bagh http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/place?ftid=0x3bcba29d6e18be0d:0x4581fdc1badae0c0&q=Kanchan+Bagh,+Hyderabad&gl=uk&ei=tgLgS7rKJ4eD_Aaf1bmcCA&sll=17.333092,78.506447&sspn=0.021303,0.032015&ie=UTF8&ll=17.335471,78.501617&spn=0,0&t=h&z=17&iwloc=A, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...

, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 where the Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory
Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory
Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory is a laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation . Located in Defence Research Complex, Kanchanbagh, Hyderabad, it is responsible for the development and manufacture of complex metals and materials required for modern warfare and weapon...

 (DMRL) is located.

Although the construction details of the armour remain a secret, it has been described as being made by sandwiching
Sandwich structured composite
A sandwich-structured composite is a special class of composite materials that is fabricated by attaching two thin but stiff skins to a lightweight but thick core...

 composite panels between Rolled homogeneous armour
Rolled homogeneous armour
Rolled homogeneous armour is a type of steel which is used to armour vehicles.-Composition:Armoured steel must be hard yet impervious to shock in order to resist high velocity metal projectiles. Steel with these characteristics is produced by processing cast steel billets of appropriate size and...

 (RHA). The number of layers may vary based on the user requirements. This armour is able to defeat APDS
APDS
APDS may refer to:*Armour-piercing discarding sabot*Androgynous Peripheral Docking System*Augusta Preparatory Day School...

 and HEAT
Heat
In physics and thermodynamics, heat is energy transferred from one body, region, or thermodynamic system to another due to thermal contact or thermal radiation when the systems are at different temperatures. It is often described as one of the fundamental processes of energy transfer between...

 rounds and is believed to withstand APFSDS.

During development in the 1980s, the Kanchan armor defeated a 106 mm RCL gun
Recoilless rifle
A recoilless rifle or recoilless gun is a lightweight weapon that fires a heavier projectile than would be practical to fire from a recoiling weapon of comparable size. Technically, only devices that use a rifled barrel are recoilless rifles. Smoothbore variants are recoilless guns...

 which was tried on the Arjun Tank. During the trials in 2000, the Kanchan was able to withstand a hit from a T-72 at point blank range, and was able to defeat all available HESH and fin stabilized armour piercing discarding sabot
Kinetic energy penetrator
A kinetic energy penetrator is a type of ammunition which, like a bullet, does not contain explosives and uses kinetic energy to penetrate the target....

 (FSAPDS) rounds, which included the Israeli FSAPDS rounds.

This armour is lightweight and compact and a new honeycomb
Honeycomb
A honeycomb is a mass of hexagonal waxcells built by honey bees in their nests to contain their larvae and stores of honey and pollen.Beekeepers may remove the entire honeycomb to harvest honey...

 design non-explosive and non-energetic reactive armour (NERA) armour is reportedly being tested on the Arjun tanks.

Protection

When a projectile is fired, the armour stops it via compression and decompression method. As the projectile hits the armour, it faces compression because of the Rolled homogeneous armour
Rolled homogeneous armour
Rolled homogeneous armour is a type of steel which is used to armour vehicles.-Composition:Armoured steel must be hard yet impervious to shock in order to resist high velocity metal projectiles. Steel with these characteristics is produced by processing cast steel billets of appropriate size and...

, and then it faces decompression because of the composite. When the projectile passes through several such sandwiched layers, it breaks up the APDS
APDS
APDS may refer to:*Armour-piercing discarding sabot*Androgynous Peripheral Docking System*Augusta Preparatory Day School...

 or HEAT
Heat
In physics and thermodynamics, heat is energy transferred from one body, region, or thermodynamic system to another due to thermal contact or thermal radiation when the systems are at different temperatures. It is often described as one of the fundamental processes of energy transfer between...

 shot. A HESH shot is ineffective against a Spaced armour
Spaced armour
Armour with two or more plates spaced a distance apart is called spaced armour. When sloped it reduces the penetrating power of bullets and solid shot as after penetrating each plate they tend to tumble, deflect, deform, or disintegrate; when not sloped it increases the protection offered by the...

and would definitely not go through a Composite armour
Composite armour
Composite armour is a type of vehicle armour consisting of layers of different material such as metals, plastics, ceramics or air. Most composite armour are lighter than their all-metal equivalent, but instead occupy a larger volume for the same resistance to penetration...

. Thus, providing protection against all three types, i.e., APDS
APDS
APDS may refer to:*Armour-piercing discarding sabot*Androgynous Peripheral Docking System*Augusta Preparatory Day School...

, HEAT
Heat
In physics and thermodynamics, heat is energy transferred from one body, region, or thermodynamic system to another due to thermal contact or thermal radiation when the systems are at different temperatures. It is often described as one of the fundamental processes of energy transfer between...

 and HESH rounds.

Composition

In 1980’s the Kanchan composite had a composition of ceramic
Ceramic
A ceramic is an inorganic, nonmetallic solid prepared by the action of heat and subsequent cooling. Ceramic materials may have a crystalline or partly crystalline structure, or may be amorphous...

, alumina, fiber glass and some other such materials mixed. The RHA tried out had two thicknesses, i.e. a 350 mm plate and a 315 mm plate. However these two plates had the same weight as a 120mm RHA. Hence it is said that Kanchan armour is more volume at same weight. The anti-tank munitions have problems in penetrating denser mass.

Kanchan armour composition has undergone massive changes since 1980’s. The volume of the RHA has been reduced to lesser mass because of better metallurgy. The composite has evolved too and it does not use the 1980s technology anymore.

External links

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