Chobham Armour Demonstration

Chobham armour is the informal name of a composite armour developed in the 1960s at the British tank research centre on Chobham Common, Surrey. The name has since become the common generic term for composite ceramic vehicle armour. Other names informally given to Chobham armour include Burlington and Dorchester. Although the construction details of the this armor remain a secret, it has been described as being composed of ceramic tiles encased within a metal framework and bonded to a backing plate and several elastic layers. Owing to the extreme hardness of the ceramics used, they offer superior resistance against shaped charges such as high-explosive anti-tank rounds and they shatter kinetic energy penetrators.

This film is a practical demonstration comparing the resistance of the same weight of steel plate to that of Chobham armor against 120mm APDS kinetic projectiles and a 5 inch diameter shaped charge warhead.