Could anyone link the source that states the penetration for the XM885 Delta 3?
According to this congressional testimony:
Department of Defense appropriations for 1984 - Google Books
There were two APFSDS rounds for XM274, Delta 3 and Delta 6.
The Delta 6 round could pen 430mm according to this congressional testimony:
Defense Department authorization and oversight - Google Books
So by process of elimination, Delta 3 is the lower performance round that performs like M774 according to sources like this:
Jane’s Armour and Artillery - Google Books
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If I remember correctly as well, Delta 6 could only be used by the XM274 gun. The problem is, what tanks use which guns is pretty vague. Some sources say the HIMAG used the XM274, but others say that the HSTV-L used XM274 as well, I’m not really sure.
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IIRC from a spookston vid a year or so ago, he did sent in a bug report with primary sources from declassified files about it for the HSTV-L and RDF/LT and gaijin’s respond was they didn’t Believe the longer darts could fit. the fact don’t care what someone believe but they went Nuh Uh and that was the end of it as i recall
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Its very clear. HSTV-L and all of the RDF/LT variants use the ADMAG(Advanced development) system developed under the MC-AAAC program. The XM274 evolved from the ADMAG in the early eighties, primarily by lengthening the chamber by 3 inches from 16" to 19".
And yes the Delta 3 and 6 variants are for the XM274 which unfortunately was only ever mounted on a LAV:
Gotcha, would you happen to know what gun HIMAG or ELKE used?
Same gun as HSTV-L:
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I have found a AAI brochure stating that the XM-274’s XM885 APFSDS-T projectile is to be on par with 105mm M774, yet said projectile is listed with the same 1463m/s MV figure as what we have on the earlier versions.
An earlier brochure lists the APFSDS-T cartridge as 16x5.2" (at 34.4lbs), so am I right to assume it is referring to the round used by HSTV-L and RDF/LT?
And in that sense, would it mean that HSTV-L / RDF/LT never fired a APFSDS round on par with 105mm M774? Or is there another APFSDS round for said vehicles that would meet that criteria?
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The stats posted is consistent with Delta 3 stats.
And yes the other brochure is for ADMAG which was on HSTV-L and RDF/LT.
Now for the performance. There was plenty of development and testing prior to XM274, earliest in the MC-AAAC program they were using a 60mm conventional cartridge gun:
First they used a projectile with a 23mm dia. windshield :
This version had a weight of 4.17 lb. or 1,89 kg.
As it was developed it evolved into a 20mm dia. projectile:
This had a total weight of 3.92 lb. or 1.78 kg.
This achieved performance close to 28mm XM774 against single plate targets when made with DU:
This 20mm projectile was used as the basis for the 75mm CTA gun APFSDS but as it was too long, being 16,7" while the 75mm CTA cartridge had a max length of 16". So the projectile was, at least in one version, shortened to 11":
A rough estimate is that this would have a weight of ~1.5kg if made of DU or W.
AAI was also working on a projectile for the ADMAG:
This 20.6 mm dia. 12.5" length projectile weighed 1.38 kg.
By 1977 they had 80% of XM774 performance:
In late 1979 they tested a 2.27 kg DU projectile, if they kept the 20mm diameter for this projectile it would be close to 16" long taking up most of the Cartridge, but if it didn’t have a tracer and a wind hood it would maybe be doable
Now the XM885 or Delta3 for XM274 appears to be close to 17.6" long if it kept the 20mm diameter.
So I haven’t been able to finde the missing links between XM885 and it’s much earlier predecessors so I can’t say for sure but right now the 1646 m/s test seems to be the ticket for a round with M774 performance in the ADMAG gun.
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i would say its fortunate! I LOVE LAV!!! TOTAL LAV LOVE!!!
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