M3A3 BRADLEY vs BMP-2 | 25mm APFSDS vs Ribbed Aluminium Armour | Armour Penetration Simulation

The American Bradley and Soviet BMP-2 are both IFVs, with the Bradley featuring a 25mm chain-gun capable of firing APFSDS rounds. These tiny darts have a penetrator less than 100mm long and are only ~8mm in diameter. Despite their size, these projectiles pose a significant threat against IFVs. The projectile simulated is the Tungsten Alloy equivalent of M919, offering slightly worse performance [1] The BMP-2’s armour is primarily high hardness steel, however the engine cover is made of ABT-101 armour-grade aluminium alloy, with a unique non-uniform thickness. The details and dimensions of this plate have been taken from ’thesovietarmourblog’ -see their BMP-2 page to learn more. For the model, aluminium 5083 JC parameters were adjusted to account for adiabatic shear bands and confirmed to match the V50 limit for 20mm FSP impacts [2]. The yield strength was then increased by ~10% to represent the higher hardness that ABT-101 has over AA5083. Tungsten Alloy APFSDS was chosen over depleted uranium M919 as I am not confident in the reliability of DU parameters and there are always conflicting expectations of its behaviour. [1] search for “25mm APFSDS GD“ or “25mm M935A2 APFSDS Armscom“ [2] Amazing thumbnail artwork from: KARRAS