Tank guns are the main weapons of tanks. Modern tank guns are high-speed, large-caliber artillery pieces capable of firing kinetic energy shells, high-explosive anti-tank shells, and artillery-launched missiles. Anti-aircraft guns can also be mounted on tanks.
Tank guns, as the primary weapon of the tank, are almost always aimed directly at a variety of ground targets, including trench infantry, light armored vehicles, and especially other heavy tanks. They had to provide accuracy, range, penetration, and rapid fire, as compact and lightweight as possible to fit into a narrow turret. Tank guns usually use self-loading ammunition, which allows for quick reloading (or the use of an autoloader). They usually show a bulge on the barrel, which is a ballistic compensator, or a flame suppressor on the muzzle.
Tank guns
The first tanks were used during the First World War to support infantry operations to disrupt trench defenses, especially machine-gun positions, which were armed with machine guns or less powerful anti-explosive guns. These are naval or field guns, unloaded from the gun mount and mounted inside the chassis or turret of an armored vehicle.
The British Mark I tank of 1916 used two 57-mm QF 6-pounder Hotchkiss naval guns, mounted on the chassis on both sides. The guns proved too long for British tank design, as they would touch obstacles and the ground on uneven terrain, and the 1917 Mark IV was equipped with a shortened 6-pounder 6-pound version, which can be considered the first dedicated tank gun.
The first German tank, the A7V, used British 57-mm Maxim Nordenfeldt fortress guns captured from Belgium and Russia and was installed separately on the front line.
Tank guns
The early French Schneider CA1 had a 75mm short gun mounted on the starboard side, while Saint-Chamont mounted a standard 75mm field gun in the nose. The thin armor of the tank meant that this weapon was effective against other vehicles, although the Germans rarely used tanks, while the Allied tanks focused on anti-infantry and infantry support activities.
This idea continued until the eve of World War II, when most tank guns were still modifications of existing artillery and were mainly used against unarmored targets. The installation of artillery with a larger caliber and shorter firing range, intended for infantry support (infantry tanks), did not disappear. These tanks are expected to wipe out fortifications and infantry clusters, and therefore carry large-caliber weapons to fire large high-explosive shells - although these weapons are also quite effective against other vehicles at close range. In some designs, such as the M3 General Lee, Churchill and Char B1, a larger caliber weapon was mounted on the hull of the tank, while the other gun was mounted on the turret to deal with the tank.
Tank guns
However, other strategists saw a new role for tanks in the war and wanted to develop more specific weapons based on these tasks. Destroying enemy tanks is their first priority. For this, the emerging anti-tank gun design was modified for installation on tanks. These weapons fire smaller ammunition, but have a higher muzzle velocity and higher accuracy, which improves performance against armor. Light artillery, such as the QF 2-pounder gun (40 mm) and 37 mm, were equipped on British cruisers and infantry tanks at the end of the 30s of the 20th century. These weapons lacked effective high-explosive shells to attack infantry and fortresses, but were effective against the light armored forces of the time.
Tank guns
The Second World War saw a leap in military technology in various fields. Battlefield experience pushes players to adopt more powerful weapons. Guns of caliber from 20 mm to 40 mm were soon replaced by guns of 50 mm, 75 mm, 85 mm, 88 mm, 90 mm and 122 mm caliber. In 1939, standard German armor was equipped with 20 mm or 37 mm medium-speed weapons, but by 1945 long-barreled 75 mm and 88 mm high-speed guns were common. The USSR introduced a 122-mm gun in the turret heavy tanks of the IS tank family. The ammunition has been improved, using harder materials and a scientific shape to provide better penetration.
All this meant an increase in accuracy and range, although ordinary tanks also had to be larger to carry ammunition, install and protect these powerful guns.
While high muzzle velocity tank guns were effective against other tanks, British tanks mostly switched to dual-purpose 75mm guns, which fired useful high-explosive shells; A 76mm 17-pounder gun was added to equip the tank later in the war for better anti-tank capabilities.
Tank guns
Many countries designed "tank destroyers" during the war - vehicles designed specifically for anti-tank warfare, heavier than tanks of the same chassis. They usually fall into three overlapping categories: retrofitting old tanks or captured tanks to make them usable again (e.g. converting a machine-gun-only Panzer I to a Panzerjager I), usually with random armored weapon mounts and limited spin capabilities; The offensive and mobile reserve versions of the United States favored light open-top vehicles with rotating turrets and powerful anti-tank guns, while real tanks were limited to infantry support roles (represented by M10 tank destroyers); and gunshield armament mounted models, which usually allow the final vehicle to be difficult to hit, and have inclined protection of the upper armor (such as the SU-100). The superiority of tank destroyers in weapons was only relative: for example, the SU-85, the gun shield TD on the T-34 chassis, changed from a 76-mm gun to an 85-mm gun after the basic T-34 was changed to a T-34-85, making the SU-85 obsolete.
Tank guns
By the end of the war, the diversity of tank designs had shrunk, and the concept of the main tank appeared. The competition for a larger caliber has slowed down, and the caliber has barely increased between generations. In the West, about 90-mm guns were replaced by the ubiquitous 105-mm Royal Arsenal L7, introduced in 1958. This situation continued for a long time, until the switch to 120 mm in the late 70s and early 80s of the 20th century (the British changed it with the Chieftain tank at the end of the 60s). In the east, 85 mm was quickly replaced by 100 mm and 115 mm U-5TS guns, and 125 mm caliber is now the standard caliber. Most of the improvements were carried out on ammunition and fire control systems.
With the advent of kinetic armor-piercing shells, solid armor-piercing shells were replaced by decapitation armor-piercing shells (APDS) (a product of 1944) and decapitation armor-piercing shells (APFSDS), the latter using tungsten or depleted uranium armor-piercing shells. Similar developments have led to chemical energy-based ammunition; The penetration depth of HER and HEAT shells is independent of muzzle velocity or distance.
Tank guns
The accuracy of the tank gun was improved by a computerized fire control system, wind speed sensor, heat pipe, and barrel reference system to compensate for barrel deformation, wear, and temperature. Infrared, light-enhanced and thermal imaging equipment increases combat capabilities at night, in bad weather and in smoke.
There were very few innovations in tank gun technology itself. For decades, artillery was almost always rifled, but now most new tanks use smoothbore guns. The rifling of the barrel rotates the projectile, which increases ballistic accuracy. The best conventional anti-tank weapons are kinetic armor-piercing shells, the penetration and accuracy of which are greatly reduced due to the loss of muzzle velocity at a longer range. At longer ranges, high-explosive anti-tank shells are more effective, but have limited accuracy; For polar long-range, it is proposed to use artillery-launched missiles.
The use of automatic loaders has been a development favored by some countries and not by others. Some countries have used it as a means of maintaining the overall size of their tanks. Interest was also shown as a means of further separating the loader from the gun and ammunition. For example, the automatic loader allowed the T-14 "Armata" to use an unmanned turret.
Tank guns
In the 60s of the 20th century, the United States, the Soviet Union and, later, the experimental US-West German joint project MBT-70 developed a smooth-bore tank gun.
The U.S. Army Weapons Laboratory's Weapons Laboratory, based on two patents issued by inventor Albert L. DeGraffenreed, used his high-precision manufacturing invention to perfect the high-precision smooth-bore tank body. The Soufriet Arsenal produced more than 20,000 tank guns for the American M1A1 Abrams tank.
Based on their experience with the 1A28 arrow missile / artillery system of the BMP-28, the USSR built the T-64B main tank, armed with a self-loading 2A46 125-mm smooth-bore anti-aircraft muzzle gun, capable of firing armor-piercing shells and anti-tank missiles. Similar artillery continues to be used on the latest Russian T-90, Ukrainian T-84 and Serbian M-84AS main battle tanks.
Tank guns
The German company Rheinmetall developed a more traditional 120-mm smooth-bore tank gun that could launch LAHAT missiles for the Leopard 2, which was later adopted by the American M1 Abrams. The main advantage of smooth-bore designs is that they are more suitable for tail stabilized ammunition, and the barrel wear is significantly reduced compared to the rifled design. The huge difference between the operation of smooth-bore and rifled guns is reflected in the type of secondary ammunition they fire, smooth-bore is ideal for firing HEAT anti-tank ammunition (although specially designed HEAT anti-tank ammunition can also be fired from rifled guns), while rifling is necessary for firing HESH high-explosive ammunition.
Most modern main tanks are now armed with smoothbore guns. A notable exception was the tank of the British Army, which used a 120-mm L11A5 rifled gun, which until the 90s of the 20th century was replaced by a 120-mm L30 rifled gun and remained in service. The Indian Arjun tank uses a domestically produced 120-mm rifled gun.