3BM9 APFSDS vs L15A5 APDS | 1960’s APFSDS vs APDS Simulation | Armour Piercing Developments Vol. 4

The 3BM9 Armour Piercing Fin Stabilised Discarding Sabot projectile was one of the first APFSDS designs in the world and was used with Soviet 125 mm guns. These cannons had a smoothbore instead of rifled ones, increasing projectile velocity and reducing barrel wear. Due to the lack of rifling, a traditional projectile could not be spin-stabilised, hence the addition of fins. The simulation compares 3BM9 to NATO’s most powerful kinetic round of the period, the L15A5 APDS. The adoption of smoothbore tank cannons in the 60’s is considered one of the largest tank developments of the 20th century, with most modern tanks now using smoothbores. The effectiveness of APFSDS can clearly be seen, as the worst Soviet APFSDS outperforms the best NATO APDS. This was the case for over 10 years, as the West would not widely adopt APFSDS until the late 70’s.