Russian tanks now equipped with dynamic Birdhouse technology

Moscow, May 6 – Tankers of the Russian Armed Forces have begun using “Contact-1” dynamic protection masks in the NVO area to cover the tank’s turret, according to a video released by the Russian Defense Ministry.

The visor, or, as it is also called, the “birdhouse” is an anti-cumulative lattice welded to the tank tower on four long rods. The design creates a kind of canopy over the roof of the tower, in which the armor is thin, covering it from attacks from above.

This is the first time such a visor has been offered with dynamic protection, although these grilles are fitted by tank crews on their own and have been used since the inception of the SVO.

The military section’s video shows that rows of Kontakt-1 containers are now suspended above the visor, more than 40 in all, creating a continuous “slab” of dynamic protection over the turret. The weight of this additional protection is more than 200 kilograms.

As one of the leading Russian military experts, Editor-in-Chief of Arsenal magazine in Motherland, Viktor Murakhovsky, explained, the usual grid, which has been used in such masks since the beginning of SVO operations, should, in theory, cause a premature launch. Cumulative ammunition that attacks from above, or leads to the destruction of such ammunition without a regular trigger.

For ATGMs and grenade launchers, attacking from above, for example, American Javelins or British NLAW, or when shooting from above in urban areas, for example, from the same RPG-7, the effectiveness of this solution needs to be considered. To them from a practical point of view. I do not exclude that such a visor with dynamic protection can protect against them as well. “

When fired, the cumulative ammunition explodes, due to the high pressure of the explosion creating a thin jet of metal from a special liner that penetrates the tank at a speed of about ten or more kilometers per second. This speed provides high damage to homogeneous armor – single ammunition can exceed 1 meter.

When it is pierced by a cumulative jet of metal, the dynamic protection explodes, and due to the released shock energy, combined with the expansion of the special plates and the body of the container, it destroys the jet, sharply reducing its effectiveness.