Kontakt-1

Kontakt-1, with GRAU index 4S20, is a first-generation explosive reactive armour created in 1982 by the Soviet research institute NII Stali to protect tanks from shaped charges. It was the first Soviet system of its kind, and the first tank fitted with it, the T-64BV, entered service in 1985. The armour is built from hundreds of appliqué bricks, each holding two angled panels with a thin explosive liner of about 260 grams of mostly hexogen, and a full set weighs from 1.2 to 2 tons. When a shaped-charge jet hits a panel the liner detonates and throws metal plates across the jet, deforming and defocusing it. Its explosive is insensitive enough to survive bullets, fragments and ammunition cook-off without a chain reaction. The maker claims penetration falls by 86 percent against Konkurs-type missiles, 92 percent against rocket grenades and 52 percent against tank HEAT rounds, but it does nothing against kinetic energy penetrators and little against tandem warheads. Its successor, Kontakt-5, entered service in 1988, and both sides used Kontakt-1 on many vehicles in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.