The KGB Oracle Forums General Public Discussion (PUBLIC) The Pub Anyone know about Reactive Armor?

Depends on the vehicle I think, I wasn't a tanker in the army, so I could be wrong. The way the layering effect is of some armors is the deciding factor, generally explosive reactives are sandwiched between other layers of armor, and so I would assume that the triggers would initiate regardless of the round type in question if the overall armor was breached deeply enough. Though it depends on the location hit, it's actual protective composition, and the type of round making the impact. Small arms fire generally should not initiate any explosive reactive protection, however I cannot say with any certainty. I've never seen a explosive reaction due to kinetic impacts, especially small arms, so the way I am seeing it is that as a part of the layered complexity of armors today, the explosive reactive layer isn't triggered unless a kinetic round penetrates to that depth, and the ceramic/chabham combined with sloping and/or cage will deflect or disperse the force first before it reaches a reactive panel. Much more intensive arms, such as a sabbot round or a RPG may be enough to trigger such a response in the armor plating, thus the reason for having multiple layers of protection.