Ammunition and explosives – Shells – Focused or directed detonation
Utility Patent
1986-11-06
2001-01-02
Tudor, Harold J. (Department: 3641)
Ammunition and explosives
Shells
Focused or directed detonation
C102S307000, C102S309000
Utility Patent
active
06167811
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND AND FIELD OF THE INVENTION
Defeat of armor packages, especially of advanced, near impenetrable armored layers is a continuing problem. Development of ingenious shaped charges and arranging their sequences of jet initiations for defeating such armors, are continuing quests. A shaped-charge device involves detonating high explosive at the rear of a liner body and allowing sufficient distance of high explosive (head height) to form a plane detonation wave at the surface of such shaped-charge device. Conventional shaped-charge warheads currently utilize the single jet to defeat target. Reductions in head height without sacrificing performance are desirable, for smaller warhead size and weight results,and less explosive is needed leading to economies. While waveshaping of the detonation wave, peripheral initiation and other techniques are employed to reduce head height a more satisfactory device is needed. Also, the art of penetrating the most advanced modern armors with particular sized jets, and sequences, is a continuing challenge. An improvement is postulated by jetting a larger slug at the target to form a crater, then following through with a thinner fast moving jet for inflicting more severe damage within the target, which might be for example the guidance system or seeker package in a missile. The standoff generated by the first crater could increase the destruction within; the second jet would see a thinner line-of-sight target thickness. In a missile configuration, in a further problem involving these types of warheads, the fuzing assembly is located at the front of the charge in the base region of the liner and electrical connections between the fuze and detonator must traverse the high explosive or body. The resulting explosive jet can be found limiting in the level of armor it can defeat especially advanced armor and elimination of this location for the fuzing assembly and electrical connections is clearly desirable. Clearly, any improvements in explosive weight and such factors discussed, and superior penetrability powers against advanced armors, would be most desirable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A method of penetrating difficult armored targets by creating dual jet detonations in a reverse mode, having a thick massive jet followed by a thinner conical jet, is presented. I have discovered that when initiation is done at a base plane of a liner rather than at for example, the end of the charge, that it is possible to collapse a hemispherical equatorial region of a liner prior to a conical region at the pole of the hemisphere, thus creating a more massive jet followed by a thinner jet. I have also discovered that the massive jet followed by the thinner jet is superior for defeat of advanced armors, for I have observed that among other things, it opens a hole or crater and thus provides less material for the thinner jet to penetrate. The hemispherical liner surrounded by high explosive is detonated above, or symmetrically at, the equatorial (base) regions. Because the distances from the base liner regions are longer for the explosion to travel, the pole conical sections necessarily must collapse later than the equatorial region, rather than sooner as with an above pole, for example, initiation device if initiation were done at the pole. Inhibitor bodies are added in key places in the high explosive, in order to even further slow the detonation path down to the conical layer(at the polar areas) for its delayed detonation. Also single liners such as hemispheres without conical caps may be detonated in the reverse sense to reduce the explosive weight (head height) over polar initiation, and also to maintain the symmetry of the device.
OBJECTS
One object of this invention is to present an explosive device useful for defeating difficult advanced armor packages.
Another object of this invention is to present a shaped charge explosive device for generating a thick massive first jet of metal, followed by thinner penetrative jets.
A still further object of this invention is to create an improved shaped charge device of reduced head height and improved detonation wiring paths, for advanced deployment against difficult armor packages, to eliminate void regions in the high explosive or casing conventionally used to provide a wiring path which tend to destroy the symmetry of the device in detonation.
The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description. In the description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, and in which there is shown by way of illustration and not of limitation, a preferred embodiment. Such description does not represent the full scope of the invention, but rather the invention may be employed in different arrangements according to the invention herein.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2892407 (1959-06-01), MacLeod
patent: 3478685 (1969-11-01), Thomanek et al.
patent: 1531538 (1968-07-01), None
Morgan John F.
Sachs Michael C.
The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of
Tudor Harold J.
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