The normal penetration of armor-piercing projectiles into single and multi-layered steel plates has been investigated. An experimental program has been conducted to study the effect of spaced and in-contact layered targets on their ballistic resistance. Armor piercing projectiles with caliber of 7.62 mm were fired against a series of single and multi-layered steel targets. The projectile impact velocities were ranged from 300-600 m/s, whereas the total thicknesses of the tested single, spaced and in-contact layered steel targets were 3 mm. The penetration process of different tested target configurations has been simulated using Autodayn-2D hydrocode. The experimental measurements of the present work were used to discuss the effect of impact velocity, target configurations and number of layers of different spaced and in-contact layered steel targets on their ballistic resistance. In addition, the post-firing examination of the tested targets over the used impact velocity range showed that the single and each layer of spaced and in-contact laminated steel targets were failed by petalling. Finally, the obtained experimental measurements were compared with the corresponding numerical results of Autodyn-2D hydrocode, good agreement was generally obtained.