I was thumbing through Zaloga's old Tank War Central Front today looking for a T-72 pic, when I noted that Zaloga, in numerous places, made the contention that NATO's 'new' breed of composite armors were not developed to stop kinetic energy penetrators. Rather, their development was directed against HEAT and shaped-charge missle weaponry.

Now, I can believe the historical framework to this; Yom Kippur war awoke everyone to the abilities of guided missles in armored war--many, including the Soviets, reply with explosive reactive armor. Brits respond with 'Burlington,' and so it goes with NATO. Assuming Zaloga is correct in his discussion of development, how have these composite armors stacked up since? I suppose the incidence where these tanks have actually been struck by kinetic energy rounds are very few, but can anyone here currently or previously in the professional 'tank business' shed light on this?

The armor works quite well against kinetic rounds. It has a similar effect that bullet proof glass has. Instead of the penetrator focusing on one point of the armor, the composite armor absorbs the impact and distributes it laterally. US tanks have the benefit of having a sheet of depleted uranium mesh just below the outer skin of armor to prevent kinetic rounds from even penetrating into the composite armor.