1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to weapon systems, more particularly to weapon systems that can penetrate and destroy targets associated with weapons of mass destruction including manufacturing and storage facilities, and most particularly to weapon systems that can penetrate and destroy chemical and biological manufacturing and storage facilities and warhead and weapons storage and bunker facilities without dispersing chemical and biological agents that could result in severe collateral damage.
2. Description of the Related Art
Weapon systems have been designed to effectively destroy myriad types of targets. Most of these systems have been designed with two criteria in mind. First, the weapon system must be able to reach the target. Second, the weapon system must then be able to destroy the target. However, in dealing with targets that contain chemical or biological agents, such as chemical and biological manufacturing and storage facilities, a third criteria must also be addressed. These chemical and biological agents must be destroyed in such a manner to preclude or minimize the release of the chemical and biological agents outside the facility to minimize dispersal of these agents to avoid severe collateral damage.
While many current chemical and biological manufacturing and storage facilities are located above ground, in the future these facilities could well be relocated to buried, fortified locations that are more difficult to reach or may not be reachable by conventional weapons systems due to their deeply buried hardened construction. Many weapon system concepts have been developed to address providing the means to enable a destructive payload to be delivered to these hardened deeply buried targets and other difficult to reach such targets. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,666 discloses a warhead that uses a forward hollow charge in order to create a passageway for an internal, follow-up projectile to be fired into fortified or armored targets. U.S. Pat. No. 5,780,766 discloses a similar type of “two-stage” device comprising an armor piercing hollow charge that clears a region or path for the missile to reach its final destination, where upon impact, a post-firing fragmentation explosive charge is released due to inertia. U.S. Pat. No. 5,526,752 discloses a projectile that includes multiple warheads separated by casing with independent detonators wherein the warheads are detonated sequentially in order to penetrate the target. U.S. Pat. No. 5,939,662 discloses a missile warhead comprising a tungsten ballast to provide high warhead cross sectional density to increase pressure upon impact. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 6,283,036 discloses a variable output warhead comprising several compartments separated by a shock-absorbing shield, each filled with explosive material wherein the shield prevents sympathetic detonation from one compartment to another. Depending upon the target, a specific number of compartments can be selected for initiation.
While these and other designs have provided some success in attacking hardened and deeply buried targets, none of these weapon systems addresses the need to destroy the final target in such a manner to minimize dispersal of chemical and biological agents as noted above. There have been systems designed to safely destroy chemical and biological agents. U.S. Pat. No. 6,011,193 describes a method to destroy chemical weapons by acid digestion. U.S. Pat. No. 6,354,181 describes a method and apparatus to destroy terrorist weapons by detonation of these weapons in a contained environment. However, these and other known methods were developed to destroy chemical and biological agents that are in the users' control and in some type of controlled and contained environment.
Therefore, it is desired to provide a weapon system that can penetrate both surface targets or soft targets and deeply buried hardened targets or hard targets containing chemical and biological agents and destroy these agents in such a manner to minimize dispersal of these agents to avoid severe collateral damage.
The present invention comprises a weapon system that is capable of engaging both surface and buried targets that contain chemical and biological agents. It can also be used to engaged surface and buried targets which are sensitive to incendiary devices such as petroleum and fuel storage facilities, conventional weapons bunkers containing high explosive and blast fragmentation weapons and other targets. In engaging chemical and biological manufacturing and storage facilities the system then destroys the chemical and biological agents in such a manner to minimize dispersal of these agents to ensure that collateral damage is also minimized.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a weapon system that may engage surface and buried targets.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a weapon system that can defeat chemical and biological agents.
A still further object of this invention is to provide a weapons system that minimizes the dispersal of chemical and biological agents that it destroys.
A still further object of this invention is to provide a weapon system that can be used to engage refineries, petroleum and oil storage facilities, weapons bunkers and other targets which are sensitive to high temperature incendiary effects.
This invention accomplishes these objectives and other needs related to weapon systems by providing a kinetic energy penetrator warhead that may engage both surface and buried soft and hardened targets. The warhead contains a high-temperature incendiary (HTI) fill capable of destroying chemical and biological agents in such a manner to minimize dispersal of these agents. Bomblets are incorporated into the warhead and are ejected, with the HTI fill, from the warhead in order to provide the means to open the chemical and biological agent containers and tanks to provide access to the chemical and biological agent to allow the product of the reaction of the warhead fill to react with and destroy said agents. Finally, a guidance system is provided to direct the warhead to the target.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention, and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
a shows a cut-away view of an embodiment of a bomblet of the invention.
b shows a side view of the bomblet mounting mechanism of an embodiment of the invention.
c shows a top view of the mounting mechanism of
The invention, as embodied herein, comprises a weapon system for destroying chemical and biological agents within a structure. The invention is designed to minimize collateral damage resulting from the destruction of these agents. The system includes a kinetic energy penetrator warhead using a precision guidance system. The fill within the warhead is a two-stage intermetallic high-temperature incendiary composition that heats the target environment to high temperature through convective and radient heat transfer. The reaction of the two stage fill also generates a biocide as a product of the reaction in order to defeat chemical and biological agents with minimum dispersal and escape of said agents from the target. The payload of the warhead also includes a plurality of bomblets that are capable of penetrating tanks, containers, and other enclosures that hold chemical and biological agents, so that the high temperature reactants of the fill, including the biocide, can react with said agents. The system also includes a separation system that separates the tail section of the warhead from the payload section of the warhead to allow the bomblets and fill to be expelled from the system. Finally, the invention includes an expulsion system that expels the bomblets in order to penetrate tanks, containers, etc. and the fill in order to react with and destroy the chemical and biological agents.
Referring to
Kinetic energy penetrator warhead systems 100 are known in the art and preferable embodiments for the present application may be selected by one skilled in the art. One preferred kinetic energy penetrator warhead 100 is the 2000 pound BLU-109 penetrator. Another preferred kinetic energy penetrator warhead 100 is the 1000 pound J-1000 warhead. However, depending upon the target, various warheads could be used.
There are many warhead guidance systems 306 and one may selected by those skilled in the art as long as it is capable of guiding the warhead to the target. One preferred guidance system 306 comprises a Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) guidance kit which is located. The JDAM employs a GPS updated inertial guidance 362 concept to effect guidance to the target coupled with a movable tail control kit, for aeerodynamic control, which retrofits to the existing bomb inventory including, but not limited to, Mk-84, 82 and 80 series bombs and BLU-109 bombs. Another guidance system 306 example is the semi-active laser guidance system which is used in the Guided Bomb Unit-24. In use, this system illuminates the target with a laser beam and the weapon guidance kit interprets the refelction of the laser energy from the target in such a way to provide steering commands to the canards on the nose of the bomb to effect aerodynamic control to steel to bomb to the target.
The high-temperature incendiary fill 108, through reaction, produces convective heating, thermal radiation, and a biocide in order to defeat both chemical and biological agents while minimizing dispersal of these agents. The high-temperature incendiary fill 108 preferably comprises either a single stage intermetallic composition that generates heat or a two stage intermetallic reaction where the first stage is a single stage intermeatllic reaction when the intermetallic reacts with an oxidize, such as lithium perchlorate or sodium chlorate, which provides oxygen, to generate oxides of the intermetallic constituents with additon heat release. These intermetallic compositions generate a thermal impulse having a maximum temperature from about 750 to 1500 degrees Fahrenheit, depending upon the size of the target engaged, in order to destroy the agent due to high heat, destroying the agent due to exceeding its normal temperature range in which it can exist, and due to agent combustion. This results from a two-stage reaction that creates over 6,200 calories per cubic centimeter of reactants. In turn, the reaction's adiabatic flame temperature is of the order of 6500 to 7000 degrees Fahrenheit. The thermal impulse should also maintain a high-temperature for as long as possible in order to ensure that the chemical and biological agents are destroyed by raising the temperature of the agent outside the bounds at which temperature it can survive, upsetting and disrupting metabolism functions in the agent critical to its existance and well being and combustion of the agent where the agent undergoes oxidization in a combusion process. A preferred thermal profile should include a thermal impulse burning rate of over 400 degrees Fahrenheit for several minutes, and preferably over five minutes. The intermetallic composition will preferably contain an oxidizer that generates a biocide during the reaction such as halogenated compounds including chlorine, fluorine, or their acid derivatives. The intermetallic composition also preferably contains a large number of wicking fibers in the fill. The purpose of the wicking fibers is to “wick” up chemical and biological agent and to present a local ignition site to ignite the chemical agent, by the burning fill, much like lighting a candle wick, and to initiate and maintain the burning of the agent in pool fires. The selection of the intermetallic fill and the second stage oxidizer and the binder in both the first stage and second stage fill should be made, preferably, so that the products of the reaction will include a biocide such as chlorine, iodine or fluorine. Finally, the intermetallic composition should achieve the thermal impulse discussed above with low-overpressure, normally in the range of 0.2 to 0.5 psi, in order to ensure minimal dispersion of the chemical and biological agents during defeat.
The plurality of bomblets 112 are designed to penetrate tanks and containers of chemical and biological agents so the agents spill out of the containers. This way the high-temperature incendiary fill 108 may defeat them as discussed above. Any number of bomblets 112 may be used and are selectable by one skilled in the art dependent upon the target. A preferred range for the number of bomblets for a BLU-109 warhead is from about five to ten. The function of the bomblets 112 is to open a a suffient number of biological or chemical agent storage tanks in a “limited damage” approach where the bomblets 112 will not, in general, open and release more bioloical agent or chemical agent than the weapon can destory through the action of the heat and release of chlorine, iodine or fluorine biocides released through the reaction. The invention does not intend to release more biological or chemical agents than it can destroy as part of a design philosophy which is intended to limit collateral damage. Collateral damage is the unintended or intended release of viable biological or chemical agent from the target in such a way that the loss of life of noncombatants results.
b and 4c show how the plurality of bomblets 112 may be mounted within the warhead. The bomblets copper plates 112 are mounted upon a hollow tube or in a hex 440. Other configurations could employ six faced cubes, eight faced octahedron or twelve faced dodecahedron. Fuze lines 448 run from each bomblet 112 and are bundled within the hollow tube 440 with the thermal detonator 444. If desired, a self-righting mechanism 442, similar to those used for land mines, may also be employed. The self-righting mechanism 442 shown comprises a plurality of steel strips that act similar to springs in order to assist the system to righting its orientation. In operation, when the high explosive material 434 is initiated, the copper plate 112 is driven forward, creating a concave shape, at velocities great enough to create holes in metal tanks and containers. The system may also contain a layer of material capable of generating a biocide immediately upon ejection from the warhead prior to the ejection and burn of the cartridge systems. This material, ejected with the bomblets 112, would contain a material capable of generating a large amount of a biocide such a chlorine. The preferred material is calcium hypochlorite dihydrate powder. Other materials which could be used for this purpose include lithium hypochlorite and sodium hyperchlorite. The purpose of ejecting this material is to generate a lethal environment for biological agents which might be released in the event that the bomb, in penetrating into the target, impacts a biological agent tank.
The biocide agent 118 is added to the back of the payload to address a situation where the warhead 100 penetrates a container containing a biological agent before the high temperature incendiary fill 108 can be deployed to provide a biocide as described above. The biocide agent 118 may comprise any substance capable of neutralizing a biological agent and may be selected by one skilled in the art. Examples of preferred biocide agents 118 include those mentioned above such as halogenated compounds including chlorine, fluorine, or their acid derivatives.
The separation system 114 should be capable of separating the tail section 102 from the payload section 104 so that the high-temperature incendiary fill 108 and the bomblets 112 may be expelled from the warhead to interact with the target. While a myriad of systems may be selected by one skilled in the art to accomplish this task, one preferred separation system 114, depicted in
The expulsion system 116 should eject the high-temperature incendiary fill 108 and bomblets 112 after the separation of the tail section 102 from the payload section 104. One embodiment of the expulsion system is shown in
An operational diagram of the system is shown in
What is described are specific examples of many possible variations on the same invention and are not intended in a limiting sense. The claimed invention can be practiced using other variations not specifically described above.
The invention described herein was developed jointly by the inventors, at least one inventor being an employee of the United States Government, and as such, the United States Government has certain rights in the invention.
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