France’s Nexter has unveiled a new ‘Shard’ armor-piercing fin stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS) 120mm anti-tank ammunition that is compatible with all current battle tanks equipped with NATO standard 120mm smoothbore guns.
The company has already completed test firings with the ammunition, including in extreme temperature conditions and at long ranges.
In 2021, the latest architectural optimizations will be completed, before entering an industrial qualification phase in 2022, the company said.
This means that Shard should be ready for the start of mass production from the end of 2022. Shard achieves a high level of terminal ballistic performance thanks to an optimized sabot, an elongated rod in a new tungsten alloy developed with Plansee Tungsten Alloys, as well as a combustible cartridge case and a low-erosion propellant developed by EURENCO.
Nexter added that work on the validation and qualification of technological building blocks in the Shard program was also one of the milestones in the development of high-performance munitions for future land combat systems, especially the Main Ground Combat System (MGCS).
