M829

The M829 is an American armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS) kinetic energy penetrator tank round.

The 7.9 kg (17 lb) of JA-19 propellant creates a chamber pressure of 5,600 bars (81,221 psi), which results in a muzzle velocity of 1,575 m/s (5,170 ft/s).

These include a special manufacturing process that improves the structural quality of the depleted uranium penetrator.

The M829A3 is a further improvement, designed to defeat any future armor protection methods, like 'Kaktus' ERA, which was seen on the now canceled prototype tank, the Object 640 "Chiorny Oriol" (Black Eagle) (sometimes falsely named the T-80UM-2).

Very little is publicly known about the round, perhaps due to export restrictions (see International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR)).

this is calculated from the 100-millimeter (3.9 in) steel tip adjoined to a 630-millimeter (24.8 in) DU body that is 25-millimeter (0.98 in) thick at 1550m/s (5085 fps) with a target RHA BHN of 250.

[8] The A4 (formerly E4) variant was under development by General Dynamics Ordnance & Tactical Systems and Alliant Techsystems (ATK)[9] until ATK received a $77 million, three-year contract on 11 July 2011 to develop and qualify the M829A4 Advanced Kinetic Energy (AKE) round for the U.S. Army's M1A2 SEP (System Enhancement Package) Abrams MBT.

The new Advanced Combustible Cartridge Case is similar to previous models but has a relocated skive joint placement for better crew-member safety during handling.

[5] On 20 July 2015, Orbital ATK announced that the M829A4 had passed First Article Acceptance Testing and was entering production.

[citation needed] On 12 October 2015, Orbital ATK announced the round had recently received type classification as the M829A4 and was awarded a full-rate production contract to begin in early 2016.