Abstract: The present paper studies the perforation of circular metallic plates struck by a blunt rigid projectile with a nose-cabin-column. Effects of transverse shear, bending and membrane deformations on the perforation process are included in a rigid-plastic analysis. Especially the effect of an ahead structural response, induced by the nose-cabin-column impacting the target plate, is considered in the model. Analytical formulae for the perforation ballistic limit and the residual velocity are obtained for a range of plate thickness, which agree with available experimental results on the perforation of metallic plates struck by semi-piercing warheads.