EP3994421B1 - Telescoping ammunition comprising a shell having a stack of grooved discs - Google Patents

Description

FIELD OF INVENTION

The technical sector of the present invention is that of large and medium caliber telescoped munitions, in particular shells and especially anti-aircraft shells.

STATE OF THE ART

Telescoping ammunition has been commonly used in military equipment for many years, particularly for feeding artillery. Its major advantage over conventional ammunition is its reduced weight for the same power. Such ammunition is known to FR 2 717 569 A1 .

In the field of shells, telescoped munitions can include anti-tank munitions, explosive munitions, training munitions or anti-aircraft munitions.

These munitions are complex, high-tech projectiles whose complexity has increased over time. In the specific case of anti-aircraft shells, known by the English term "airburst" (referring to shells with timed firing), the main problem is to generate a fragmentation cloud that is as predictable as possible in order to have a reproducible predictive model of the likely outcomes.

In order to pursue this objective, many architectures of dispersible pieces or fragments have been conceived and implemented over time, such as for example.

The patent US-5817969 describes a shell whose body is partly made up of sub-projectiles.

The patent DE-3153378 describes a shell whose body consists of a set of discs with metallic powder interposed between them.

These two documents illustrate specific configurations in which it is planned to incorporate initially sub-projectiles.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to propose a design for an airburst anti-aircraft shell exhibiting efficient and predictable debris dispersion.

The architecture of this munition gives the shell a cloud of projectiles whose dimensions and dispersion following the explosion of the charge are predictable and reproducible, taking into account the inevitable margins of error.

The invention therefore relates to a telescoped munition according to claim 1.

According to a characteristic of the telescoped ammunition, the weakening grooves of the internal part are made longitudinally from the outside in and the grooves of the external part are made longitudinally from the inside out.

According to another characteristic of the telescoped munition, the external part has a shorter length than the internal part.

Another characteristic of telescoped ammunition is that the heavy material constituting the body is tungsten. Another characteristic of telescoped ammunition is that the warhead rests on the inner part of the body, and the cage, which contains a timing fuse, also rests on the inner part of the body.

According to yet another characteristic of the telescoped munition, the external profile of the outer part is aligned with that of the ogive and the cage.

According to yet another characteristic of the telescoped munition, the internal part is equipped at the front with an external machining for receiving the ogive and at the rear with an internal bore for the insertion of a pyrotechnic initiator.

According to yet another characteristic of the telescoped munition, the internal part is equipped at the front with a cork.

According to yet another characteristic of the telescoped munition, the casing consists of three sabots joined by at least one weakened fastening means.

According to yet another characteristic of the telescoped ammunition, the means of attachment consists of a retaining ring.

According to yet another characteristic of the telescoped munition, the latter is a sub-caliber anti-aircraft shell operating by airburst.

One advantage of the munition according to the invention lies in the fact that the shell is in the form of a solid piece that is perfectly ballistically stable and does not include any sub-projectile.

Another advantage of the munition according to the invention lies in the simplicity of its manufacture by combining with this massive piece a ogive and a rear piece giving it a ballistic profile without any other intervention.

Another further advantage of the present invention lies in the fact that the shell is stable on its trajectory after firing.

Another advantage of the present invention lies in the fact that the shell can be easily integrated into its casing without complex intervention.

The projectile is not encumbered by a structural body for carrying the pellet load. The ratio between usable mass and total mass is therefore optimized.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

• la figure 1 est une coupe longitudinale d'une munition télescopée selon un premier mode de réalisation de l'invention,
• la figure 2 est une coupe longitudinale d'une munition télescopée selon un deuxième mode de réalisation de l'invention, et
• la figure 3 est une vue en perspective du corps central de la munition selon l'invention.

Other features, advantages, and details of the invention will be better understood upon reading the following supplementary description, given by way of illustration, in relation to drawings in which:

• there figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a telescoped munition according to a first embodiment of the invention,
• there figure 2 is a longitudinal section of a munition telescoped according to a second embodiment of the invention, and
• there figure 3 is a perspective view of the central body of the munition according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF METHODS OF IMPLEMENTING THE INVENTION

There figure 1 represents a first embodiment of the telescoped munition 1 according to the invention.
We see that this munition 1 consists of a shell 20 comprising a body 2, a base 3 and a ogive 4, the whole being incorporated into a casing 19 or sabot classically made up of three parts 5.

The body 2 consists of a tubular inner part 6 and an outer part 7. This inner part 6 is a tubular piece containing an explosive composition 15. The inner part 6 is closed at the front by a plug 8, fixed in an internal bore 22 at its front end, and at the rear by a pyrotechnic initiator 9, screwed into an internal bore 23 at its rear end. This inner part 6 is also provided on its outer circumference with weakening features in the form of weakening grooves 16, running from the outside in.

Explosive composition 15 is a pyrotechnic charge designed to explode in flight, thereby causing the dislocation of the internal and external parts of the shell, as will be explained below.

The outer part 7 consists of discs 7 threaded around the inner part 6. The discs have longitudinal weakening grooves visible on their inner surface. figure 3 These discs 7 are held in position at the front by the ogive 4 and at the rear by the cage 10. The ogive and the cage are press-fitted with a certain degree of interference fit onto the external machined holes 21 and 24, respectively located at the front and rear ends of the internal part 6. Thus, the ogive 4 rests against the first disc 7 and cage 10 is resting against the last disc 7.

The cage 10 is substantially cylindrical in shape and contains a timing fuse 11 fixed in alignment with the pyrotechnic initiator 9 which is intended to initiate the explosive composition 15 after a certain delay.

The 5 shoes are conventionally held together at the rear by a weakened retaining ring 12 and at the front by a non-slip belt 14, both designed to break at the exit of the launching tube.

On the figure 2 In longitudinal section, another embodiment of munition 1 is shown. The overall structure is the same as in the embodiment shown on the figure 1 and the same references designate the same elements.

In this embodiment, we see that the base 3 has a different structure in that it has a lip 18 covering the cage and coming into close contact with the envelope 19.

On the figure 3 , a perspective view of the body 2 of the munition 1 is shown. The internal tubular part 6 with its external longitudinal grooves 16 can be seen.

We can also see the outer part 7 threaded around the inner part 6, made up of the discs 7, here 7a to 7g. The discs 7 have longitudinal weakening grooves 17 on their inner walls.

The operation of the telescoped munition 1 is as follows.

During firing, the munition 1 is launched and at the exit of the barrel, the entry of air into the funnel-shaped front end of the sabots 5 subjects the weakened fastening means 12 to a tension which causes it to break and thus releases the shell 2 from the envelope formed by the three sabots 5.

The shell contains a timing fuse 11 which is initiated and whose operation is programmed to trigger, after a certain delay, the composition 15. The triggering of the timing fuse 11 contained in the Cage 10 ignites pyrotechnic initiator 9, which triggers the detonation of explosive composition 15. The resulting explosion causes body 2 to disintegrate into a shower of fragments at very high speed. Because these fragments are heavy, their destructive power over targeted areas is very high.

Since munition 1 is an anti-aircraft shell, the fragmentation cloud is particularly effective at destroying a munition in flight. However, the original structure of munition 1 according to the invention allows for the production of fragments of predetermined sizes and shapes, thus affecting predictable and reproducible dispersion.

It is clear that the munition 1 described allows the body 2, made up of the internal part 6 and external part 7, to burst into regular fragments of shapes predetermined by the lines of embrittlement 16 and 17. Thus, munition 1 presents a predictable and constant effect of forming a cloud of fragments, ensuring a more easily extrapolated destruction of the intended target.

Furthermore, the use of a telescoped ammunition reduces the weight of the projectile without reducing its range, a well-known advantage of telescoped ammunition. Finally, the use of a solid body allows for better control of the projectile's ballistics, thus increasing operational reliability and firing accuracy.

Claims (11)

1. - A telescoped ammunition (1) formed of a shell (20) integrated into a case (19) closed by a rear end cap (3), said shell (20) comprising a nose cone (4), a body (2) made of a heavy material followed by a cage (10), characterised in that the body (2) of said shell (20) is formed of an internal part (6) and an external part (7), the internal part (6) being in the form of a tubular part enclosing an explosive composition (15) and having embrittlement grooves (16), the external part (7) being arranged pressing around the internal part (6) and being formed of a stack of discs (7), each disc (7) having embrittlement grooves (17).
2. - The telescoped ammunition (1) according to claim 1, characterised in that the embrittlement grooves (16) on the internal part (6) are made longitudinally from the exterior to the interior and the grooves (17) in the external part (7) are made longitudinally from the interior to the exterior.
3. - The telescoped ammunition (1) according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the external part (7) is of a length that is less than that of the internal part (6).
4. - The telescoped ammunition (1) according to claim 1, 2 or 3, characterised in that the heavy material constituting the body (2) is tungsten.
5. - The telescoped ammunition (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the nose cone (4) is arranged pressing on the internal part (6) of the body (2) and in that the cage (10) is arranged pressing on the internal part (6), said cage (10) enclosing a timer fuze (11).
6. - The telescoped ammunition (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the external profile of the external part (7) is aligned with that of the nose cone (4) and the cage (10).
7. - The telescoped ammunition (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the internal part (6) is provided at the front with an external machined part (21) to receive the nose cone (4) and at the rear with an internal bore (22) in which to insert a pyrotechnic igniter (9).
8. - The telescoped ammunition (1) according to claim 7, characterised in that the internal part (6) is provided at the front with a plug (8).
9. - The telescoped ammunition (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the case (19) is formed of three sabots (5) joined by at least one embrittled fastening means (12).
10. - The telescoped ammunition (1) according to claim 6, characterised in that the fastening means (12) are formed by a retaining ring.
11. - The telescoped ammunition (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that said ammunition is a sub-calibre anti-air shell with an airburst function.