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A photograph showing a large, odd-looking device around the barrel of a military weapon is frequently shared online as depicting a tank silencer: This is a genuine photograph, but the term tank silencer may not be the most accurate term for what is seen in the image. The pictured device was manufactured by the German munitions company Rheinmetal and the acoustic engineering laboratory IfL in the hopes of reducing the noise level at a weapons research facility. While we haven't been able to find an official name for this device, a report from IfL described earlier versions of it simply as a muffler. Here are a few more images of this super-sized noise suppressor: A report published by IfL in 2001 concerning their research on mufflers for large guns stated that: The viral image reportedly shows a large muffler around the barrel of a M109 155mm self-propelled howitzer. We weren't able to find information about this specific testing session, but the test results from an earlier prototype are available and show that while this muffler was able to dampen the noise of the blast, it hardly silenced that blast. IfL reported that this muffler reduced the noise of a 120mm gun on a Leopard 2 tank from near 115 decibels to 100 decibels for observers about a quarter kilometer away from the blast. The noise reduction was greatest at lower frequencies: It should be noted that the muffler pictured in this viral photograph is not the first of its kind. A photograph of a similar muffler can be viewed in the 1969 issue of Army Research and Development News magazine:
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