SYRIAN MILITARY DEVELOPS NEW EFFECTIVE TANK ARMOUR

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Since 2014, the Syrian Armed Forces have begun developing an easily manufactured and attachable armour in order to adapt T-72 batle tanks to urban warfare. The first prototype of this armor was T-72 Adra which had two layers of armour: spaced and slat.

The approach achieved a success in providing 360 degree protection from RPG-7 and SPG-9 rockets for tanks serving in the Damascus countryside. Nonetheless, this armour was not usefule against more advanced anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) and anti-tank projectile like the RPG-29.

Using this experience, the Syrian military began developing more simple variants of tank armours which have less weight and more protection capability.

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One of the prototypes was a T-72 tank with a sloped armuor. This tank was immediately thrown into battle to test the prototype out. It particiapted in clashes in the Eastern Ghouta region near Damascus on February 27, 2017. It was struck by a Meits-M ATGM. As a result the tank was put out of service and its driver suffered medium injures. The tank turret was damaged.

During the last battles in eastern Damascus, the same T-72 tank was spotted fending off militant assaults in the area of Qabun.

It looks that the developed armour allowed to drastically lower the material and casualty damage suffered by the tank and the crew in the previous incident. This is an important achievement of the Syrian military.

Considering the positive results, it is expected that the Syrian Army will continue developing simple armour systems which proved itself effective during the successfull operations in Western Ghouta and Wadi Barada.

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An example of the aforementioned spaced armour:

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