Introduction:

After the demonstration of Blazer ERA in Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, Soviets deployed their own explosive reactive armor in form of Kontakt ERA in 1983.

Interestingly, Kontakt ERA was not a copy of Israeli Blazer ERA. Kontakt was developed by the Soviets and was more advanced than Blazer ERA in a couple respects. Firstly, the blocks are 40% the size of Blazer blocks, which is considerably more demanding in terms of technology of the explosive interlayer. This also means that the amount of underlying armor exposed after a detonation is less. Secondly, Kontakt is a bit more clever in its configuration. The brick is asymmetric in its explosive interlayer, meaning that one end is thicker than the other. This induces rotation in the plates as well as separation, and as a result, the armor is effective against HEAT jets at a wider variety of angles. Kontakt-5 was the Soviet follow-up development to the original Kontakt ERA, optimized to be effective not only against HEAT jets, but also APFSDS long rods. It was first deployed around 1985.

For more about modern explosive reactive armor check out Robb McLeod’s excellent article: link.

Review:

Royal Model offers two sets of Kontakt explosive reactive armor blocks, both in 1/35 and 1/72 scale. This review covers their Explosive Reactive Armour No.1 (818).

The set comes in a plastic bag stapled to a hard cardboard backing. Opening the bag reveals 56 pieces cast in grey resin. The cast is very impressive and I found no imperfections in the pieces whatsoever.

The Kontakt ERA block measures about 250 x 150 x 70 mm and has four bolt holes, one at each corner, to attach one brick to each corner. Located centrally on the edge of each brick is a pair of mounting pins enabling it to be attached to the tank's main armor. The ERA panels are placed at varying distances away from the basic armor of the tank. The ERA blocks in this set measure 7 x 4 x 2 mm which sizes the ERA block perfectly to 1/35 scale. The shape of the block is accurately delivered, with all the bolt details sharp and clearly identifiable.

Attaching ERA blocks on the model should present no problems. I suggest studying the references, as the configuration of the panels differs between the various types of MBT.

Conclusion:

What’s not to like in Explosive Reactive Armour No.1 (818) from Royal Model? The set provides 56 individual ERA blocks, perfectly cast in resin, accurately sized and detailed. Unlike their PE counterparts, the blocks are easy to use.

Together with Explosive Reactive Armour No.2 (819), this set should provide a nice upgrade to various Russian-made modern MBT kits in 1/35 scale.

References:

http://www.army-guide.com/eng/product2081.html