Raytheon Company

Wayne Y Lee

Thomas H Bootes

Jesse T Waddell

George Darryl Budy

Jason M Shire

Richard K Polly

John J Spilotro

Keith A Kerns

Brandon Cundiff

Kim L Christianson

John E Bednarz

George Budy

Brandon J Cundiff

A munition has preformed fragments at two radial distances from a center axis, for instance having inner fragments in or within or adjacent to a casing, and outer fragments outside of the casing. The outer fragments may be between the casing and an outer enclosure that surrounds the casing. The casing may be part of a warhead, and may be a penetrator casing. The fragments at different radial distances from the center may have different sizes, different materials, and/or different shapes. The use of fragments at different radial distances aids in providing enhanced fragmentation effects, such as controlling dispersal of fragments to limit fragmentation effects and/or provide more even distribution of fragments.

Munition with multiple fragment layers

A munition, such as a warhead, includes a penetrator casing for penetrating hard targets, such as a fortification or reinforced building or other structure, with the penetrator casing having reduced-thickness portions. The reduced-thickness portions provide weak points to the casing that facilitate the casing being transformed into fragments of a desired size/quantity when an explosive within the casing is detonated after the penetration occurs, thus enhancing the effectiveness of the munition. In addition, the warhead may have lethality-enhancing materials, such as additional fragments and/or energetic materials, at the reduced-thickness portions of the penetrator casing. The reduced-thickness portions may be holes, such as longitudinal holes, in the casing, or may be grooves on an inner and/or outer surface of the casing. The munition may be a dual-use munition, with the explosive able to be detonated at a burst height for use of the warhead as a non-penetrating area fragmentation weapon.

Penetrator munition with enhanced fragmentation

A munition may include a warhead, such as a penetrator warhead, enclosed in airframe. The airframe may enable connection to standard mountings, and/or to standard nose kits or tail kits. The airframe may have preformed fragments in it, packed between the airframe and the warhead. The preformed fragments may be loose, may be packed in a potting material, or may be in flexible bags. The fragments may enhance performance of the munition. The warhead may also contain preformed fragments.

Munition with outer enclosure

A munition, such as a warhead, includes a penetrator casing for penetrating hard targets, such as a fortification or reinforced building or other structure. The penetrator casing has a relatively thick nose, and a relatively thin aft section extending back from the nose. A cable interface is in the aft section, and an electrical harness extends from the cable interface, external of the casing, and forward to a nose kit. The penetrator casing may have reduced-thickness portions, to provide weakness points to the casing that facilitate the casing being transformed into fragments of a semi-controlled and desirable size when an explosive within the casing is detonated after the penetration occurs, thus enhancing the effectiveness of the munition.

Munition with nose kit connecting to aft casing connector

A munition has a penetrator casing that houses a fuel-oxidizer mixture within the casing. A height of burst fuze is operatively coupled to the fuel-oxidizer mixture, to ignite the fuel-oxidizer mixture before impact with the target. By igniting the fuel-oxidizer mixture before target impact, the munition avoids the problem of the impact potentially causing damage to the fuze that would leave the fuze in operable. The fuel-oxidizer mixture may cause injury and damage into a space that has been breached by the penetrator casing, for example by expelling lethal combustion products (hot gases) into a hard target, such as a building or bunker, that has been breached by the penetrator casing. The hot gasses may also have the advantage of maintaining an opening that the penetrator passes through, with for example the hot gases glassifying the edges of a hole formed by the penetrator, such as through soil.

Munition having penetrator casing with fuel-oxidizer mixture therein

A shock attenuation device is used to reduce the effect of a blast shock by both disrupting the propagation of the shock and by spreading, deflecting, and/or redirecting the shock. The device includes multiple layers of different materials, having different shock transmission impedances, stacked in a direction in which the blast shock travels through the device. At least one of the layers includes a material that crumples in response to the shock, undergoing an inelastic deformation in response to the shock. Also, at least one of the layers includes a material that has a directional shock transmission impedance that provides different shock transmission impedance within different directions within the material. The directional shock transmission material may be oriented such that the preferred direction of shock transmission within the material is oriented away from the direction of in which the multiple layers of material are stacked.

Shock attenuation device with stacked nonviscoelastic layers

A munition, such as a warhead, includes a penetrator casing for penetrating hard targets, such as a fortification or reinforced building or other structure, with the penetrator casing having reduced-thickness portions. The munition also includes a shock-resistant fuzewell for absorbing shocks during the penetration, to allow a fuze within the fuzewell to survive hard target penetration. The fuzewell may have one or more shock-absorbing features, such as having a ring surrounding a central housing, with flexible spokes connecting the ring to the central housing. The shock-absorbing features may allow the fuze to withstand the penetration into a hard target, with the fuze subsequently being used to detonate an explosive of the munition.

Shock-resistant fuzewell for munition

A munition that is adapted to enhance fragmentation effects upon detonation includes preformed fragments between a casing and a shell. The overall mass of the preformed fragments is greater than the overall combined mass of the casing and the shell for enhancing the degree of controlled fragmentation compared to uncontrolled fragmentation. By enhancing the dispersal of controlled fragmentation, the overall fragmentation area coverage and fragmentation pattern density may also be enhanced while limiting travel of the fragmentation beyond the target area for reducing collateral damage. The preformed fragments may fill a continuous volume between the casing and the shell to effectively utilize the munition volume and to maximize the amount of preformed fragments contained within the shell. The preformed fragments may be free flowing pellets that are poured into the volume between the casing and the shell for enhancing distribution of the fragments and for improving assembly of the munition.

Munition with preformed fragments

A munition has a fuze that is mounted nonparallel to the axis of the munition, for example having a largest extent that is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the munition. Shocks from the fuze are transferred through a shock transfer device that is in contact with the fuze, to an initiation device that is also in contact with the shock transfer device. Shocks passing through the shock transfer device to the initiation coupler pass through a relatively narrow neck of the shock transfer device. In the shock transfer device the shock is concentrated and located precisely at the neck, before spreading out again and being transferred to the initiation device. In the initiation device the shock may detonate a high explosive material, which in turn is used to detonate a main explosive of the munition, such as a warhead.

Fuze shock transfer system

Embodiments of a reactive shaped charge, a reactive liner, and a method for penetrating a target are generally described herein. The reactive shaped charge comprises a reactive liner having a matrix of reactive metal particles in a hydrocarbon fuel, a high explosive, and an inner barrier separating the reactive liner from the high explosive. The hydrocarbon fuel fills the interstitial spacing between the reactive metal particles, and the matrix is tightly packed or compresses to exhibit a solid like property.

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Santaquin, UT, United States of America

Wayne Y Lee