Ways to improve jet penetration ability
For a certain armored target, jet penetration ability mainly depends on three factors: jet speed, material and length. Among them, the jet velocity depends on the charge material and initiation mode, the material and thickness of the liner and the angle and shape of the cavity; The density and dynamic characteristics of jet materials affect the penetration process; The jet length depends on the jet speed and jet material. The main technical ways to improve the jet penetration ability are:
(1) Improve the explosive charge to make it have high enough explosion pressure and velocity, and apply enough pressure on the liner to form jet. The latest LX-19 PBX explosive charge abroad is composed of 95.8% CL-2 explosive and 4.2% polyurethane elastic fiber adhesive, which can effectively increase the jet length and jet speed, thus increasing the penetration depth, but it is sensitive. RUAG applies patented balanced extrusion technology and tight assembly technology to hollow charge warhead, which effectively improves the density and uniformity of explosive charge, provides faster explosion speed and makes detonation wave spread evenly, bringing "perfect jet and excellent penetration ability". The MBT-LAW rockets of the British and Swedish Army, the Bill 2 anti-tank missile of the Swedish Army and the Precision Guided Mortar Ammunition (PGMM) of the US Army all use the hollow charge warhead of RUAG.
(2) The penetration ability is improved by adding barrier materials or adopting multi-point initiation system to the explosive charge and controlling the detonation wave jet. The barrier material makes the detonation wave propagate around the explosive charge and form a torus shape. This kind of detonation wave quickly acts on the liner, which accelerates its inward deformation, thus providing a larger velocity and velocity gradient for the jet, and finally forming a longer jet. Multi-point initiation system adopts multiple primary explosives, which are arranged in spherical, annular or matrix form and placed at the top, bottom or other positions of warhead. In contrast, the use of barrier materials is a relatively simple method, but it can not provide enough flexibility for different targets, and the advantages and disadvantages of multi-point initiation technology are just the opposite. The "Wall-Penetrating" hollow charge warhead jointly developed by German Power Nobel Defence Company and Israel's Rafael Weapons Development Agency adopts the ring initiation technology, which can pierce a hole the size of a human body in the wall without causing other structural damage to the wall. This warhead has been used in the Pzf 3 rocket launcher of Dynamic Nobel Defense Company and RGW6 and Pzf 9 disposable launchers.
(3) Dual-substance shaped charge cover is adopted to deal with explosive reaction armor and improve after-effect of armor. For example, the "Reaction Armor Penetration and Non-explosion" (PANDORA) warhead of Insys Company in the United Kingdom, the top half of the liner is PTFE and the other half is copper, and two jets are generated when it is detonated. Teflon jet is the first to attack the explosive reactive armor, and it penetrates a hole without detonating the armor. The copper jet "unimpeded" passes through the explosive reaction armor and attacks the main armor behind it.
(4) The so-called "liner destruction device" is used to interfere with the formation of the jet, so that the jet is dispersed or the hollow charge warhead is turned into an explosively formed projectile warhead. The destruction device is connected with the probe telescopic mechanism at the end of the warhead. When the probe is extended, the warhead attacks heavy armor in jet mode, and when the probe is retracted, it attacks buildings and light armor in "destruction" mode. (1) Multi-mode hollow charge warhead. There are more than two working modes, which can deal with multiple targets. It can use the above-mentioned multi-point initiation system, or it can also use the "shaped cover destruction device". Deere Ammunition Systems' experimental Bunkerfaust warhead adopts the latter method, which is actually a series warhead.
(2) Compact hollow charge warhead. Using new liner, advanced barrier material or advanced initiation technology, the charge length can be reduced, thus reducing the size and weight of the whole weapon system. This compact charge is almost the same as the standard charge in performance.
(3) hollow charge warhead outside the defense zone. The appearance of active protection systems (such as Russian Arena and Thrush 2) poses a new challenge to hollow charge warhead. It is found that the hollow charge warhead is extremely sensitive to foreign objects entering the charge or liner area. Once the active protection system fires a spherical fragment with a diameter of 5 mm into the charge or shaped charge area, the penetration depth of the warhead can be reduced by 7% ~ 9%. If the warhead is armored, it will greatly increase the weight of the weapon, which is not conducive to portability. A more practical way is to enable the warhead to attack outside the active protection system of armored combat vehicles. Insys has been studying this kind of hollow charge warhead outside the defense zone, and it has been able to produce a continuous jet with a length of 8 ~ 1 times the diameter of the cone. This means that the continuous jet length of the warhead with a cone diameter of 1 mm can reach 8 ~ 1 meters, and the attack can be carried out outside the defense zone of the active protection system. But at this distance, the jet will generally split into a series of rod-shaped particles, thus weakening the penetration ability.