120×570mm NATO tank ammunition (4.7 inch), also known as 120×570mmR, is a common,

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

-standard (STANAG 4385), tank gun semi-combustible cartridge used by 120mm smoothbore guns, superseding the earlier 105×617mmR cartridge used in NATO-standard rifled tank guns.

History

The 120×570R cartridge was originally intended for the German Rh-120 smoothbore gun but an interoperability agreement signed between

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in April1979, followed in September1981 by a project to install the M256 120 mm smoothbore gun on future M1A1 Abrams tanks made it a NATO standard.

Characteristics

The 120×570mm are one-piece ammunition with semi-combustible

cartridge case A cartridge, also known as a round, is a type of pre-assembled firearm ammunition packaging a projectile (bullet, shot, or slug), a propellant substance ( smokeless powder, black powder substitute, or black powder) and an ignition device ( pr ...

s. These incorporate a short, metallic stub case with an elastomeric sealing ring which allows the use of a normal sliding wedge type of breech and at the same time significantly reduces the weight of the rounds. Thus, a round of 120 mm Rheinmetall APFSDS ammunition has a mass of 19.8 kg, which is little more than the 18 kg mass of a typical 105 mm APFSDS round with the traditional metallic cartridge case.

Ammunition

Armour-Piercing Fin-Stabilized Discarding Sabot (APFSDS)

There are different ways to measure APFSDS penetration value. NATO uses the 50% (This means that 50% of the shell had to go through the plate), while the Soviet/Russian standard is higher (80% had to go through).

High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT)

High Explosive (HE)

Close Combat

Guided munition

Target Practice Tracer (TP-T)

Notes on notation: * Table includes information on ballistically-matched combat ammunition for each practice round if possible. * TP-T stands for target practice, tracer. Some nations add a parenthetical to indicate the class of ammunition being emulated, e.g. TP-T (HEAT). * TPCSDS-T stands for target practice, cone stabilized, discarding sabot, with tracer. It is commonly used to match the ballistics of an APFSDS round.

Weapon platforms

* Rh-120 L44 (), used on the Leopard 2 and Type 90 MBTs ** Rh-120 L55 (), used on later Leopard 2 variants including the Leopard 2E ** Rh-120 L55A1 (), foreseen for the Challenger 3 * M256 (), used on the

M1 Abrams The M1 Abrams () is a third-generation American main battle tank designed by Chrysler Defense (now General Dynamics Land Systems) and named for General Creighton Abrams. Conceived for modern armored ground warfare, it is one of the heavies ...

and M60-2000 ** M256E1 () * XM360 () ** XM360E1 () * CN120-25 (), used on the AMX-32, AMX-40, and EE-T1 Osório * CN120-26 (), used on the Leclerc * 120 FER (), tested on the VEXTRA POLE prototype * MG251 (), used on the Merkava III * MG251-LR () used on the Merkava IV * MG253 () used on the M60 Sabra * OTO Melara-

Breda Breda ( , , , ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. ...

120/44 (), used on the C1 Ariete * OTO Melara-

120/45 (), used on the B2 Centauro * CTG (), used on the CV90120 and WPB Anders * CN03 (), used on the K1A2 * CN08 (), used on the

K2 Black Panther K2 Black Panther () is a South Korean List of main battle tanks by generation#Fourth Generation, fourth-generation main battle tank (MBT), designed by the Agency for Defense Development and manufactured by Hyundai Rotem. The tank's design bega ...

* MKE 120 mm tank gun (), used on the Altay (main battle tank) * Type 10 (), used on the Type 10

Notes

References

DIRECT FIRE AMMUNITION Handbook 2019, Project Manager Maneuver Ammunition Systems
{{DEFAULTSORT:120x570mm NATO Artillery ammunition NATO cartridges Military equipment of NATO Large-caliber cartridges Tank ammunition