M791 Armor-Piercing Discarding Sabot with Tracer (APDS-T)
This round is fired from the Bradley Fighting Vehicle (BFV) and the Marine Lightly Armoured Vehicle (LAV). The M791 APDS-T is used for armour penetration and the M792 HEI-T is used for anti-personnel and soft target defeat. These combat rounds received excellent feedback during Operation Desert Storm.
The M791 APDS-T round possesses the accuracy and performance necessary to defeat today's threats. Its high velocity, coupled with a low time of flight, assures effective results at extended ranges. This round penetrates lightly armored vehicles.
The APDS-T is a fixed type, percussion primed round. It consists of a sabot encapsulated projectile body crimped to a steel cartridge case. The projectile body consists of a solid tungsten alloy penetrator, pressed on aluminum windshield, pressed in tracer pellets, molded discarding type nylon sabot, pressed on polyethylene nose cap, and staked aluminum base.
Gases produced by the burning propellant discharge the projectile from the gun at 1,345 meters per second (plus or minus 20 meters per second) and ignite the tracer. Setback, centrifugal force, and air pressure cause the sabot to separate on leaving the gun barrel. The discarding sabot leaves the barrel at about a 34 degree angle along the gun target line (17 degrees off each side) for 100 meters. The tungsten penetrator (core) is spin stabilized and penetrates the target solely by kinetic energy.
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