Concrete ballistic shield

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Tue Feb 25, 2020 8:13 am

Hello everyone!

This is a shield I made a month ago, which I plan to test with my homemade airgun. It was cast in a TV parabolic antenna, two layers of rebar were used. Sand was washed several times to remove dirt and clay. As you will see, the outside section is the weakest.



The inspiration came from the parabolic shape of Albanian bunkers and these two interesting bunker systems - Kugelstand, a 7-foot spherical concrete one-man bunker and "Moll-System" concrete bunker for two guards. Both of these two bunker systems were used by Nazi Germany in WW2. Not many of these concrete spheres were produced because the war ended, they weighted about 2000 kgs and were transported to the desired location.

Do you think these concrete spheres could be useful in modern warfare. Perhaps placing them in a densely wooded area to conceal them from air observation.
Beside it is a Kugelstand, a 7-foot spherical concrete one-man bunker designed to mount a machine gun (the mount is not visible in this photo). The bunker would be buried in the ground so that only the firing position was exposed. The Kugelstand pillbox only went into production in April 1945
This was a "Moll-System" concrete bunker for two guards, manufactured by the Leonhard Moll concrete company of Munich. There were at least thirty of these concrete shelters for the guard force in the Obersalzberg area.
This is the source of images. I recommend everyone interested in topic to visit this website.
http://www.thirdreichruins.com/bunkers.htm

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jackssmirkingrevenge
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Wed Feb 26, 2020 7:22 am

That's interesting!

Reminds me of the Panzernest:

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Do you think these concrete spheres could be useful in modern warfare. Perhaps placing them in a densely wooded area to conceal them from air observation.
Given the mobile nature of modern warfare, I don't think fixed positions have much value. The average infantryman has access to a plethora of weapons with shaped-charge warheads that can deal with meters of concrete. There's enough footage of ATGMs used in Syria and Ukraine to convince anyone of that.
hectmarr wrote:You have to make many weapons, because this field is long and short life
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Wed Feb 26, 2020 10:50 am

jackssmirkingrevenge wrote:
Wed Feb 26, 2020 7:22 am

That's interesting!
Reminds me of the Panzernest:

Given the mobile nature of modern warfare, I don't think fixed positions have much value. The average infantryman has access to a plethora of weapons with shaped-charge warheads that can deal with meters of concrete. There's enough footage of ATGMs used in Syria and Ukraine to convince anyone of that.
If you ask me, panzernest was waste of metal and parts. It had air pumps to remove machine gun gases. You can make good and cheap positions using logs and dirt.

You are right about concrete, it can be breached easily. It all comes down to attrition warfare. I wonder how they produced these spheres back then. There is no info about that on the net.
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