Hey all,
I'm having a discussion on another site about what side skirts protect on a Tank. My understanding is that side skirts protect the Hull of the tank, Crew, Ammo and Engine from Shaped charge warheads with protection of the running gear as a second thought. Others believe that it's used to protect the running gear and wheels. So who's correct?

It depends on which tank you are talking about. An For example, only a few of the Abrams side skirts are ballistic, while the rest are just thick sheet metal. The Merkava has more beefy skirts. It seems most tanks' skirts are thinner sheet metal designed to protect the track and running gear against schrapnel and small arms fire.

The same goes for the Leopard 2. The forward section is heavier armoured than the rest of the skirts. Indeed the Dutch Leopards use only the heavy forward section, and still use the old, un-armoured thin skirts (as were fitted on the Leo 1) for the rest of the skirts.

The few Abrams skirts that are made of ballistic Chobham armor are located to protect hull ammo and fuel storage areas (and the driver by virtue of him sitting between the forward fuel cells and hull ammo racks).