Editing Armour (section)

=== Present ===
[[File:Abrams-transparent.png|thumb|The [[United States Military|US Military]]'s [[M1 Abrams]] [[Main battle tank|MBT]] uses [[composite armour|composite]], [[reactive armour|reactive]], and [[cage armour]]|alt=A tank]]

Tank armour has progressed from the Second World War armour forms, now incorporating not only harder [[Composite armour|composites]], but also [[reactive armour]] designed to defeat [[shaped charge]]s. As a result of this, the [[main battle tank]] (MBT) conceived in the [[Cold War]] era can survive multiple [[rocket-propelled grenade]] strikes with minimal effect on the crew or the operation of the vehicle. The [[light tank]]s that were the last descendants of the [[light cavalry]] during the Second World War have almost completely disappeared from the world's militaries due to increased lethality of the weapons available to the vehicle-mounted infantry.

The [[armoured personnel carrier]] (APC) was devised during the First World War. It allows the safe and rapid movement of infantry in a combat zone, minimising casualties and maximising mobility. APCs are fundamentally different from the previously used armoured [[half-track]]s in that they offer a higher level of protection from artillery [[Air burst|burst]] fragments, and greater mobility in more terrain types. The basic APC design was substantially expanded to an [[infantry fighting vehicle]] (IFV) when properties of an APC and a light tank were combined in one vehicle.

Naval armour has fundamentally changed from the Second World War doctrine of thicker plating to defend against [[Shell (projectile)|shells]], [[bomb]]s and torpedoes. Passive defence naval armour is limited to [[kevlar]] or steel (either single layer or as [[spaced armour]]) protecting particularly vital areas from the effects of nearby impacts. Since ships cannot carry enough armour to completely protect against [[anti-ship missile]]s, they depend more on defensive weapons destroying incoming missiles, or causing them to miss by confusing their guidance systems with [[electronic warfare]].

Although the role of the ground attack aircraft significantly diminished after the [[Korean War]], it re-emerged during the [[Vietnam War]], and in the recognition of this, the [[US Air Force]] authorised the design and production of what became the [[A-10 Thunderbolt II|A-10]] dedicated anti-armour and [[ground-attack aircraft]] that first saw action in the [[Gulf War]].

[[High-voltage transformer fire barriers]] are often required to defeat [[ballistics]] from small arms as well as projectiles from [[Bushing (electrical)|transformer bushings]] and [[lightning arrester]]s, which form part of large electrical [[transformer]]s, per [https://www.nfpa.org/codes-and-standards/all-codes-and-standards/list-of-codes-and-standards/detail?code=850 NFPA 850]. Such fire barriers may be designed to inherently function as armour, or may be [[passive fire protection]] materials ''augmented by armour'', where care must be taken to ensure that the armour's reaction to fire does not cause issues with regards to the fire barrier being armoured to defeat explosions and projectiles in addition to fire, especially since both functions must be provided simultaneously, meaning they must be fire-tested together to provide realistic evidence of fitness for purpose.

[[Unmanned combat aerial vehicle|Combat drones]] use little to no vehicular armour as they are not crewed vessels, this results in them being lightweight and small in size.