AMERICA’S FIRST APFSDS | M735 Armour Piercing Simulation

M735 was the first American APFSDS to be put in service, introduced at the end of the 1970’s. Prior to this, the Chieftain’s 120mm APDS was the most powerful NATO kinetic round -since the mid-60’s. The M735 offered a huge jump in performance, as it meant the 105mm gun could penetrate 150mm of RHA @60° at 3x the range of 120mm APDS. Despite this, the rounded nose and tapered core were inefficient, with large amounts of material being ejected during penetration. This began the NATO adoption and development of 15 years after the Soviets. This simulation was also to test my material model’s suitability for APFSDS impacts, with it showing the expected phenomena. If you want to know more about these phenomena, check out this video for a deeper, higher fidelity comparison: