Armor: January 25, 2002

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The Swiss company Oerlikon Contraves has developed three new 30x165mm rounds for use by the Russian 2A42 and 2A72 autocannons. These include a discarding sabot round, a frangible discarding sabot round, and a practice round. All three use the same cartridge case. At least 30 countries operate some 12,000 BMP-2 and BMP-3 vehicles that mount these cannons, so there is a considerable export market. The new ammunition can penetrate substantially more armor than the original Russian ammunition.--Stephen V Cole