Hello, first time poster but long time lurker here. I'm interested if there are additional information regarding electromagnetic armour in general that might be known by this forum's members. I myself have been following the trail of the research and various other forums out there but it's somewhat inconclusive so I would like to request constructive opinions of this board regarding the topic. My primary motivation for asking this question is due to my interest on envisioning a hypothetical scenario on the effectiveness of the system against current known threats to main battle tanks. To start the discussion, here's the most relevant links I found regarding the said topic.
Literature Review - Page 5 in PDF
Multiprojectile Active Electromagnetic Armor - IEEE
British electromagnetic armour effort
From my own research on the topic, I summarized that there are two types of EM Armour, Active and Passive as illustrated by the following list. All are just educated guesses and therefore might be wrong.
Active Armour
-Two types, either plate launcher or deflection type.
-The plate concept is akin to conventional ERA where a plate is ejected but the plate is launched electromagnetically via coilgun principle, the plate backs a flat coil. Stated to work in conjunction of sensory system for active defense, a recent Chinese effort.
-Deflection type is hinted in Telegraph article where the British armour might work by creating momentary peak electric field to disperse incoming threat. Verification is scarce but the mechanism involved might have to do with current induction on the hostile munition or momentary plasmasification of the air to deflect the said errant object.
Passive Armour
-Two known types, spaced and electrothermal
-Spaced is simply two charged plates that will discharge as soon as something penetrate the first plate which will break up the offending material.
-Electrothermal was described as similar to spaced concept, except it uses some kind of vapourizable layer (synthetic rubber perhaps?). Penetration will complete the electrical circuit and the armour will ablate just like ordinary ERA. Potentially safer than explosive ERA.
If one wonders on how these systems can be powered, the US have been researching pulsed power compensators as early as 1990s in part of their quest of getting a weaponisable railguns thus the same advances could theoretically be applied for an EM armour application. In my own opinion, EM armour is not a final solution, but merely a supplement to more conventional armour, a backup of sorts.
Literature Review - Page 5 in PDF
Multiprojectile Active Electromagnetic Armor - IEEE
British electromagnetic armour effort
From my own research on the topic, I summarized that there are two types of EM Armour, Active and Passive as illustrated by the following list. All are just educated guesses and therefore might be wrong.
Active Armour
-Two types, either plate launcher or deflection type.
-The plate concept is akin to conventional ERA where a plate is ejected but the plate is launched electromagnetically via coilgun principle, the plate backs a flat coil. Stated to work in conjunction of sensory system for active defense, a recent Chinese effort.
-Deflection type is hinted in Telegraph article where the British armour might work by creating momentary peak electric field to disperse incoming threat. Verification is scarce but the mechanism involved might have to do with current induction on the hostile munition or momentary plasmasification of the air to deflect the said errant object.
Passive Armour
-Two known types, spaced and electrothermal
-Spaced is simply two charged plates that will discharge as soon as something penetrate the first plate which will break up the offending material.
-Electrothermal was described as similar to spaced concept, except it uses some kind of vapourizable layer (synthetic rubber perhaps?). Penetration will complete the electrical circuit and the armour will ablate just like ordinary ERA. Potentially safer than explosive ERA.
If one wonders on how these systems can be powered, the US have been researching pulsed power compensators as early as 1990s in part of their quest of getting a weaponisable railguns thus the same advances could theoretically be applied for an EM armour application. In my own opinion, EM armour is not a final solution, but merely a supplement to more conventional armour, a backup of sorts.
