A pre-series American M1 Abrams, the first main battle tank to be protected by Chobham armour
The British Army's Challenger 1 was the second operational tank to use Chobham armour
Chobham armour is the name informally given to a composite armour developed in the 1960s at the British tank research centre on Chobham Common. The name has since become the common generic term for ceramic vehicle armour.
Although the construction details of the Chobham Common armour remain a secret, it has been described as being composed of ceramic tiles encased within a metal matrix and bonded to a backing plate and several elastic layers. Due to the extreme hardness of the ceramics used, they offer superior resistance against shaped charges such as high explosive anti-tank (HEAT) rounds and they shatter kinetic energy penetrators.
