Info: Jack-In-The-Box

[MarkSheppard]

Originally Posted by Aeraaa

Mmmyeah, that is a distinct Russian trait

Russian tanks are very dense and compact -- there's not a lot of room for an incoming round to go that doesn't hit something important.

It's worth noting that the carousel autoloader on the T-64 and later T-72, leading into the T-80 and T-90 can't be effectively or easily protected from ammo cook off, the way that traditional stowed rounds could be -- e.g. Shermans with (W) had glycol filled jackets around ammo stowage bins to prevent precisely this from happening.

Any tank can explode like that from on board ammunition cooking off; the difference is...

Russian "Modern" Tanks from T-64 onwards: Explodes within 5 seconds; very little chance for crew to escape.

Russian "Old" Tanks (T-62/55/54): Ammo explosion likely within 1 minute; due to the "density" e.g. they're very cramped to maximize armor for weight, making them cook off faster.

"Old" US/UK Tanks (Wet Stowage Shermans, Pershings, etc and Centurion): You probably have 2 or 3 minutes, because there's so much empty space inside the tank vs Russian

"Modern" US/UK Tanks (Abrams, Challenger): You probably have 10-15 minutes of a fire before ammo cookoff.

You can see how this affects crew survivability...