Primer: Armor & Protection Basics

A 19th century Japanese Samurai demonstrates
a balances of armament, mobility and protection.

06/22/2016 - Iron Sights Productions  The concept of protecting oneself from attack and counterattack is intuitive. Historical evidence of shields and armor carried by soldiers stretches back to the very beginning of human warfare.

It is only natural then that the introduction of mechanized warfare brought with it the ongoing evolutionary race to provide better protection in combat. 

Just as it was for footsoldiers, knights, and samurai attempting to balance protection with mobility, so to does mechanized warfare. The more armor a vehicle carries, the less mobile it will be. Balancing this equation so that any particular mechanized weapon system can fulfill its mission is the job faced by designers and engineers around the world. 

Materials & Mobility. 

Designers faced with the challenge of protecting mechanized units in combat were not starting from a blank slate. Throughout history, metal and composite materials have been used to protect against specific threats on the battlefield. When it came time to protect mechanized units on the battlefield, many of the same theories were applied and then expanded upon.

Early mechanized warfare featured steel plates. Through experience the optimal vehicle layout, the concept of sloping armor, and superior varieties of steel were discovered and developed further.

Today, tanks in particular, utilize composite armor which includes everything from layers of material, to internal scales and matrices under what otherwise looks like a homogeneous plate of armor. Everything from ceramics to depleted uranium has been employed to provide the densest amount of material for maximum protection without overly weighing down the vehicle. 

An M1 Abrams' turbine engine. The fuel-hungry engine is meant to move the M1's heavily armored mass across the battlefield. There is a trade-off between the power of a turbine engine and the fuel-efficiency and durability of diesels. 

Heavy tanks burdened by armor require serious engines. The struggle to balance armament, mobility, and protection  has led to designers exploring everything from multiple engines powering a tank, to reducing the internal volume to almost inhuman proportions to save weight, to exploring the use of fuel-hungry turbine engines similar to those found in aviation.