초록 ▼

A high-lethality fragmentation warhead with reduced risk of collateral damage to the warhead launch platform. High lethality is achieved with a forward-firing fragmentation assembly placed in front of the explosive and a side-firing fragmentation assembly placed in a void space in the aft section of

A high-lethality fragmentation warhead with reduced risk of collateral damage to the warhead launch platform. High lethality is achieved with a forward-firing fragmentation assembly placed in front of the explosive and a side-firing fragmentation assembly placed in a void space in the aft section of the explosive. The risk of collateral damage to the launch platform is reduced by forming the case and explosive containment structures of materials that are pulverized upon detonation of the explosive. This substantially eliminates radial fragments and in particular fragments thrown back towards the platform. Performance may be enhanced by tapering the aft section of the containment structure and explosive to eliminate explosive that does not contribute to the total energy imparted to the forward-firing fragmentation assembly by the pressure wave to create the void space for the side-firing fragmentation assembly. Performance may be further enhanced by forming the end of the explosive and forward-firing fragmentation assembly with largely conformal dome shapes that approximately match the shape of the front of the pressure wave. This both increases the amount of explosive energy delivered to those fragments and serves to expel them in a desirable pattern.

대표청구항 ▼

We claim: 1. A dual-mass warhead, comprising:a case formed of a material that is pulverized upon detonation;an explosive containment structure inside the case, said containment structure having an aft section that defines a space between the case and the containment structure;an explosive in the exp

We claim: 1. A dual-mass warhead, comprising:a case formed of a material that is pulverized upon detonation;an explosive containment structure inside the case, said containment structure having an aft section that defines a space between the case and the containment structure;an explosive in the explosive containment structure;an initiator to initiate detonation of the explosive;a side-firing fragmentation assembly including first metal fragments in the space that expels the first metal fragments in a side-firing pattern upon detonation of the explosive; anda forward-firing fragmentation assembly including second metal fragments positioned fore of the explosive that expels the second metal fragments in a forward-firing pattern upon detonation of the explosive,wherein the expulsion of said first metal fragments from the side-firing fragmentation assembly in the side-firing pattern is delayed with respect to the expulsion of said second metal fragments from the forward-firing fragmentation assembly in the forward-firing pattern, andwherein the expulsion of said first and second metal fragments creates a central region of the firing pattern between the forward and side-firing patterns largely devoid of said first and second metal fragments, occupied only by the pulverized casing materials.