"HESH rounds are (as someone accurately pointed out) High Explosive Squash Head rounds. They're regular caliber (90-120mm, and I'm sure the 140mm next generation of tank guns will use them too), made of a "soft" HE material with a delayed (half second, maybe quarter second) fuse that lets the round
pancake out on impact, thus imparting a HUGE amount of concussive force directly on the surface of the target. This shakes stuff around quite a bit in the AFV that gets hit, and can "spall" or break off into little bits that fly around like bullets, internal armor linings.

The British use the HESH round in the Challenger's 120mm main gun, and currently have the range-record for a combat-kill of an enemy tank during the Gulf War with a HESH round
(5500M! Nice shot old boy!)"

That's a kill from more than 3.4 miles away!

How do they compare to US made tanks?

The upgraded US Abrahms also has the same 120mm main gun, but I believe the US tanks are built for speed and shooting on the move whereas the Brit tanks are more heavily armored and rely more on traditional tank tactics.

I was doing a search on "Janes" when I came across this tidbit. I believe our tanks have a 2000 meter effective range while most of Saddam's outdated Soviet equipment was something like 1500-1700 meters. Basically, we were able to kill them before they could even get a decent shot back at us.

To hit someone from 5500 meters is pretty incredible!

Originally posted by RedLine99
The upgraded US Abrahms also has the same 120mm main gun, but I believe the US tanks are built for speed and shooting on the move whereas the Brit tanks are more heavily armored and rely more on traditional tank tactics.

I was doing a search on "Janes" when I came across this tidbit. I believe our tanks have a 2000 meter effective range while most of Saddam's outdated Soviet equipment was something like 1500-1700 meters. Basically, we were able to kill them before they could even get a decent shot back at us.

To hit someone from 5500 meters is pretty incredible!
Hey, it was definately the mother of all battles wasnt it?:rolleyes:

Originally posted by Criminal

Hey, it was definately the mother of all battles wasnt it?:rolleyes:

Yeah. I believe that is what Saddam was calling it.:o

Guys, this is a subject I know way entirely too much about.
I was in a Challenger2, among others, last month, all over the turret but mostly TC position, the regiment's master gunner did a great dog and pony, real nice guy.
Good tech, good ergonomics. We use the same armor, called "Chobham", vehicles (M1 and Challenger) are roughly the same size and capabilities, only real difference is powerpack: they use a piston diesel, we use a turbine engine. Their 120mm is rifled, 2-piece ammo (projectile and and powder charge), fired with a rifle blank, still use a human loader (good) instead of an hydraulic ram, (bad) which tend to load the TC's leg or gunners' arm if they're not very careful, an extrememly difficult thing to do whilst bouncing cross-country at 30mph, btw. Sighting and stabilisation systems are comparable, too.
I had a lot of questions as I was a tank mechanic in the 80s (M1 Abrams with the 105mm). My unit, 2/66 AR, did a lot of gunnery competitions and field exercises with the Brits (Challenger, Chieftan) Canadians (Leopard 1), Dutch (Leopard 1), French (AMX30), Germans (Leopard 1 and varients). The biggest NATO competition was called the "C.A.T. Shoot", Canadian Army Trophy, held each year at Bergen-Belsen GE (yes, that one) and we always won. Best gunnerey came from C co 2/66. Then, we had drag races. We won them, too. Did you know that an M1 can do 60mph easily? 1500 horsey-power, baby. Oh, sorry, I'm rambling.
Anyway, back to the Brits:
HESH came up several times, he said that overall, the problems are that
1. you have to stow them vertically, (which limits numbers) as the compound will slop over and form up lopsided when stored on their sides, (imagine silly putty in it's egg in the back window of your car in June) which causes the shell to wobble in flight, equals innacuracy. This is the main reason we stopped using it a long time ago.
2. with the advent of spall liners (usually kevlar blankets) mounted inside the turrets of most vehicles, the shockwave and shatter effect is greatly diminished, so HESH is losing favour, but still useful for taking apart fortifications and other point (hard) targets as an HE substitute.
3. budgets being what they are, some of the rounds have been in storage for a long time, and that can make people very nervous when handling them, as the chemicals used in the early years eventually became more than boderline unstable (as they had to be in order to be all explosive and stuff) and tended to "sweat" out from their casings. Still, it's a dangerous business...
Too much information?

Thanks, Griff.

I'm just an old Air Cav guy. The only armor I ever saw was getting shot at:p

I always wanted to fly in a helicopter, what's it like? Got any interesting "Jesus Nut" stories?

I do..LOL After I got hurt, I was an Army/Air Farce liason NCO for the remainder of my career... I've ridden in almost every 2+ seater in the inventory except for a few classified machines... One helicopter ride was REAL (sarcasm) fun. We had to do an auto-rotation landing because of turbine failure. I'm here to tell you.... it SUX! They dump all the pitch on the rotor blades so that it will maintain rotor speed until they reach a certain last ditch altitude... then pull in ALL the pitch.... causing the blades to provide a little lift, while slowing at an alarming rate.then, the helicopter hits the ground, and the gear, frame, seats all collapse to reduce the impact you feel....
(shiver) I hated it.

Pucker Factor 10? Outstanding! Any RAH-66?

Wife got to ride in a very special "hardened" CG's Blackhawk one Thursday morning a couple of years ago, was a commo puke, too, her shop had a rare chance to see whom they were supporting and how it got delivered to them "somewhere over Europe".

Of all the vehicles I've crewed, TCed, fixed, etc, the most all-out fun had to be M113 APC. Ultimate RV. http://armorfoto.homestead.com/M113.html

Originally posted by Griff
Pucker Factor 10? Outstanding! Any RAH-66?

Wife got to ride in a very special "hardened" CG's Blackhawk one Thursday morning a couple of years ago, was a commo puke, too, her shop had a rare chance to see whom they were supporting and how it got delivered to them "somewhere over Europe".

Of all the vehicles I've crewed, TCed, fixed, etc, the most all-out fun had to be M113 APC. Ultimate RV. http://armorfoto.homestead.com/M113.html I remember the 113s....LOL Of course, I remember JEEPS, too...LOL

I think the best improvements to the inventory were the M2-M3 Bradleys, and the HUMMV.

I've ridden in snakes, UH and EH-60s, Apaches, Hueys, A-10s, and various others...

Got to learn to drive HUMMVs in downtown Taegu (ROK) traffic, where lights and signs are mostly suggestions. Pure dog psychology- My tires are higher than your roof, so I Go First!, unless you're a bus. Wheeeeeeee!
When I hear JEEP, I always remember changing a rear differential all by myself at 3 AM, as my Sgt slept in the tool truck, at Hohenfels, in the mud and snow and sand (down my shirt and in my eyes), damn thing resting on my chest as I tried to line up the mounting holes in the square/tubular frame (of course, unthreaded, needed a nut and bolt mounting) then breaking it on the test drive. Builds character.
Think I'd rather have had a British tank with a HESH round to fix that thing, now that i think of it.