Background
With the rapid increase in armor thickness during World War II, tanks were becoming increasingly able to survive rounds fired from even the largest of WWII-era anti-tank guns. A new generation of guns, notably the British 105 mm Royal Ordnance L7, were able to cope with newer tanks, but it appeared that in another generation the guns needed would be too large to be practical.
To overcome this potential difficulty the US Army began to favor high-explosive antitank (HEAT), or shaped charge rounds in the 1950s. A shaped charge's penetration is not dependent on the speed of the round, allowing rounds to be fired at much lower velocities, and thus from much lighter guns. They also work better at larger diameters, and a large-diameter low-velocity gun makes for an excellent assault gun that can be mounted on light or medium-weight vehicles. However, the low speed of the round makes it hard to aim over longer distances. The US Army sought to overcome this problem by developing guided missiles with shaped charge warheads that were accurate beyond a few hundred yards.
Read more about this topic: MGM-51 Shillelagh
Famous quotes containing the word background:
“... every experience in life enriches one’s background and should teach valuable lessons.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)
“Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment; that background which the painter may not daub, be he master or bungler, and which, however awkward a figure we may have made in the foreground, remains ever our inviolable asylum, where no indignity can assail, no personality can disturb us.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Pilate with his question “What is truth?” is gladly trotted out these days as an advocate of Christ, so as to arouse the suspicion that everything known and knowable is an illusion and to erect the cross upon that gruesome background of the impossibility of knowledge.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)