The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 03, 2019
Filed:
Feb. 11, 2015
Raytheon Company, Waltham, MA (US);
Thomas H. Bootes, Tucson, AZ (US);
George D. Budy, Tucson, AZ (US);
Wayne Y. Lee, Santaquin, UT (US);
Richard K. Polly, Tucson, AZ (US);
Jason M. Shire, Tucson, AZ (US);
Jesse T. Waddell, Tucson, AZ (US);
Raytheon Company, Waltham, MA (US);
Abstract
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.