On Mon, Jun 29, 2015 at 7:50 AM, Grimmund <grimmund@gmail.com> wrote:

On Mon, Jun 29, 2015 at 8:43 AM, Ethan McKinney
<ethan.mckinney@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Wind drag strips it off. In space, you could just glue it on. If you
>> can build gyros and sensors sturdy enough to withstand the launch, you
>> could use the space in the sabot for guidance.
>
>
> You could use gyros, but spinning the projectile is very simple. Depends on
> size and type of shell.

True, but when the western units went to the DS rounds, they also went
to a 120mm smooth bore. No rifling, no spin.

US introduced 105mm (rifled) APFSDS in 1976. I believe that it simply didn't engage the rifling, although I know that some setups have use ball bearing to let let the round spin very little on its way down the barrel.

I'm assuming you meant FSDS, since DS was used in rifled guns from 1943. Non-FS DS does demonstrate that you can simply spin-stabilize the penetrator.