In recent days, the arms company Rheinmetall has delivered qualification samples of the new KE 2020 Neo 120mm tank ammunition to the German and British armies, specifically The objective is to improve the effectiveness of main battle tanks Leopard 2 from Germany and Challenger 3 from Great Britain.
In a statement, the company assured that the specifications of the KE 2020 Neo are aimed at standardize ammunition types among NATO members and improve interoperability.
The 120mm x 570 Kinetic Energy (KE) ammunition features a heavy duty tungsten indenter designed to breach the latest shielding protection technologies.
Currently, the DM73 is the KE projectile most advanced used in the German Army and used in the gun of the L55A1 of the Leopard 2. But in this case, the key is in the use of tungsten, an element with very special characteristics.
The first of them is density: Tungsten is incredibly dense, surpassing even lead and steel. This density is a critical factor in armor penetration, as it allows projectiles to carry substantial kinetic energy.
The second is its hardness, inherited in part from its density. Tungsten is one of the hardest materials on Earth, in fact, It is the second, behind the diamond. It is four times harder than titanium. Its ability to maintain its shape and structural integrity under extreme pressure is vital to penetrating armored targets.
And finally there is the high melting point: Tungsten has an extraordinarily high melting pointwhich makes it resistant to the intense heat generated during impact. This property ensures that the penetrator remains effective even in high speed scenarios.
These characteristics make it common in anti-tank ammunition, ammunition for aircraft and ships.
Tungsten indenters are, right now, the standard of armor piercing technology and this has been the case for at least 3 decades, something that, despite the advances in science, has no prospect of changing in the coming years.