Nexter’s SHARD to be Ready for Mass Production by 2022

Nexter Munitions presented the 120 SHARD ammunition, a high-performance product. It is a new generation of APFSDS (Armor-Piercing Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabot) 120mm anti-tank ammunition, compatible with all current and future battle tanks equipped with NATO standard 120mm smoothbore guns.

The interoperability of SHARD with the armaments and environments of the Leclerc tank, the Leopard 2, the Abrams M1A1/A2 and the C1 Ariete is ensured through development in compliance with STANAG 4385 and ICD 120.

A press statement from Nexter, “Recent test firings carried out in extreme temperature conditions and at long range have confirmed the performance expected in simulation: this ammunition sets a new performance standard, with increased penetration capacity combined with very high accuracy. In 2021, the latest architectural optimisations will be completed, before entering an industrial qualification phase in 2022.”

SHARD will be ready for the start of mass production from the end of 2022 to give their customers the technological capabilities to effectively fight the latest armored threats of the 21st century.

The press statement further stated, “This very high level of performance is permitted thanks to a totally innovative design, defined by Nexter Munitions’ technical teams at Bourges. SHARD achieves well as a combustible cartridge case and a high-performance, low-erosion this level of terminal ballistic performance thanks to an optimized sabot, an elongated rod in a new tungsten alloy developed with Plansee Tungsten Alloys, as propellant developed by EURENCO.”

The validation and qualification of innovative technological building blocks in the SHARD program is also one of the milestones in the development of very high-performance munitions for future land combat systems, especially the Main Ground Combat System (MGCS).