[Glossary](/glossary.md)/[Armor](/glossary/category/armor.md)

# Spaced armor

A thin plate mounted away from the hull, which strips explosive and shaped-charge shells before they reach the real armor.

Also known as screens, side skirts, schurzen, track absorption.

Spaced armor works by geometry rather than by thickness. A [HEAT shell](/glossary/heat.md) detonates on the screen and its jet loses [penetration](/glossary/penetration.md) crossing the gap, and a [high explosive](/glossary/high-explosive.md) [shell](/glossary/shell.md) spends its blast on the outer plate.

Against solid shells it does much less: an [armor-piercing](/glossary/armor-piercing.md) round passes through and its penetration is reduced only by what the screen was worth. [Tracks](/glossary/tracks.md) count as spaced armor too, which is why aiming at a target's track from the front is usually a wasted shot.

## Related terms

[HEATA shaped-charge shell with high penetration that ignores distance entirely, but is defeated by tracks, screens and any spaced armor it detonates on.](/glossary/heat.md)[High explosiveA shell that explodes on contact, dealing reduced damage through armor it cannot penetrate and splashing everything nearby.](/glossary/high-explosive.md)[TracksThe running gear, which immobilises the vehicle when broken and absorbs shells like spaced armor when intact.](/glossary/tracks.md)[Effective armorThe thickness a shell actually has to defeat once the angle of the plate is accounted for, which is what penetration is compared against.](/glossary/effective-armor.md)

[Every World of Tanks term](/glossary.md)

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