Rheinmetall DeTec 120 mm APFSDS-T DM 33A1

assembly consists of a three-part aluminium sabot and a two-piece tungsten penetrator with a tracer element in the steel fin assembly. Sabot obturation is achieved by using a nylon band. The CCC contains 7.6 kg of granular multiperforated propellant in a containment bag which prevents spillage in the event of a rupture of the combustible case walls. Although described as combustible, case ignition does leave the steel base stub intact for ejection from the gun after firing. The DM 43A1 differs from earlier rounds in that the round weight is 19.5 kg, 4 kg of which is the penetrator. Muzzle velocity is 1,740 m/s and chamber pressure 5,500 bar. Modifications have been introduced to the penetrator, sabot and propellant, which is seven-perforation L1/M2400. Penetration performance has been reported as 560 mm of RHA at 2,000 m. The training equivalent for this round is the Rheinmetall DeTec APFSDS-T-TP (LKL) DM 38 or DM 48 - see separate entry for details. Rheinmetall DeTec has also proposed that early production examples of 120 mm APFSDS-T rounds, or rounds that have exceeded their shelf life, could be converted to relatively low-cost FSDS-TP-T training rounds by substituting the tungsten penetrator with an LKL component and replacing the propellant charge after reprocessing. The tungsten penetrator rods involved could be recycled by Rheinmetall. Of what was to become the Rheinmetall DeTec 120 mm L/44 and L/55 Smoothbore Guns began in 1964, although it was not until 1974 that the first hardware trials took place. Series production began in 1979 for the Leopard 2 MBT. In 1978, the L/44 gun was adopted by the US Army as the M256 Cannon for the M1A1 Abrams MBT and the later M1A2.