Editing Armour (section)

== Vehicle ==
{{Main|Vehicle armour}}

The first modern production technology for armour plating was used by navies in the construction of the [[ironclad warship]], reaching its pinnacle of development with the [[battleship]]. The first [[tank]]s were produced during World War I. Aerial armour has been used to protect pilots and aircraft systems since the First World War.

In modern ground forces' usage, the meaning of armour has expanded to include the role of troops in combat. After the evolution of [[armoured warfare]], [[mechanised infantry]] were mounted in armoured fighting vehicles and replaced [[light infantry]] in many situations. In modern armoured warfare, armoured units equipped with tanks and [[infantry fighting vehicle]]s serve the historic role of [[heavy cavalry]], [[light cavalry]], and [[dragoon]]s, and belong to the armoured branch of warfare.

=== History ===

==== Ships ====
{{further|Warship|Naval armour}}
[[File:HMS Warrior (1860).jpg|left|thumb|{{HMS|Warrior|1860|6}} during her third commission between 1867 and 1871|alt=A ship with an iron hull]]

The first [[ironclad]] battleship, with [[iron armour]] over a wooden hull, {{ship|French ironclad|Gloire||2}}, was launched by the [[French Navy]] in 1859<ref>Sondhaus, pp. 73–74</ref> prompting the British [[Royal Navy]] to build a counter. The following year they launched {{HMS|Warrior|1860|6}}, which was twice the size and had iron armour over an iron hull. After the [[Battle of Hampton Roads|first battle between two ironclads]] took place in 1862 during the [[American Civil War]], it became clear that the ironclad had replaced the [[Ship of the line|unarmoured line-of-battle ship]] as the most powerful warship afloat.<ref>Sondhaus, p. 86.</ref>

Ironclads were designed for several roles, including as high seas battleships, [[coastal defence ship]]s, and long-range [[cruiser]]s. The rapid evolution of warship design in the late 19th century transformed the ironclad from a wooden-hulled vessel which carried sails to supplement its steam engines into the steel-built, turreted battleships and cruisers familiar in the 20th century. This change was pushed forward by the development of heavier naval guns (the ironclads of the 1880s carried some of the heaviest guns ever mounted at sea),{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}} more sophisticated steam engines, and advances in metallurgy which made steel [[shipbuilding]] possible.

The rapid pace of change in the ironclad period meant that many ships were obsolete as soon as they were complete, and that naval tactics were in a state of flux. Many ironclads were built to make use of the [[naval ram|ram]] or the [[torpedo]], which a number of naval designers considered the crucial weapons of naval combat. There is no clear end to the ironclad period, but towards the end of the 1890s the term ''ironclad'' dropped out of use. New ships were increasingly constructed to a standard pattern and designated battleships or [[armoured cruiser]]s.

==== Trains ====
[[File:Wagon pancerny s.jpg|thumb|upright|An armoured train from 1915|alt=A train with metal plates affixed to the exterior]]

[[Armoured train]]s saw use from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century, including the American Civil War (1861–1865), the [[Franco-Prussian War]] (1870–1871), the [[First Boer War|First]] and [[Second Boer War|Second]] Boer Wars (1880–81 and 1899–1902), the [[Polish–Soviet War]] (1919–1921), the [[World War I|First]] (1914–1918) and [[World War II|Second World Wars]] (1939–1945) and the [[First Indochina War]] (1946–1954). The most intensive use of armoured trains was during the [[Russian Civil War]] (1918–1920).

==== Armoured fighting vehicles ====
{{Main|Armoured fighting vehicle}}

Ancient [[siege engine]]s were usually protected by wooden armour, often covered with wet hides or thin metal to prevent being easily burned.

Medieval [[war wagon]]s were horse-drawn wagons that were similarly armoured.  These contained guns or crossbowmen that could fire through gun-slits.

The first modern [[armoured fighting vehicle]]s were [[armored car (military)|armoured cars]], developed {{circa|1900}}.  These started as ordinary wheeled motor-cars protected by iron shields, typically mounting a machine gun.<ref>Macksey, Kenneth (1980). ''The Guinness Book of Tank Facts and Feats''. Guinness Superlatives Limited, {{ISBN|0-85112-204-3}}.</ref>

During the First World War, the stalemate of [[trench warfare]] during on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] spurred the development of the [[Tanks in World War I|tank]]. It was envisioned as an armoured machine that could advance under fire from enemy rifles and machine guns, and respond with its own heavy guns. It used [[caterpillar track]]s to cross ground broken up by shellfire and trenches.

==== Aircraft ====
With the development of effective [[anti-aircraft artillery]] in the period before the Second World War, military pilots, once the "knights of the air" during the First World War, became far more vulnerable to ground fire. [[Survivorship bias|As a response]], armour plating was added to aircraft to protect aircrew and vulnerable areas such as engines and fuel tanks. [[Self-sealing fuel tank]]s functioned like armour in that they added protection but also increased weight and cost.

=== 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.