Projectile, in particular in the medium caliber range

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 11371815
  • Patent Number
    11,371,815
  • Date Filed
    Wednesday, September 25, 2019
    5 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, June 28, 2022
    2 years ago
Abstract
A projectile having a projectile body for holding a penetrator, a projectile rear, and a projectile ogive. The projectile body has a narrowed point, on which the penetrator can be supported. The narrowed point results in reliable breaking open of the projectile body when the projectile hits a target.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a projectile, in particular PELE® ammunition.


Description of the Background Art

The functional principle of PELE® ammunition, as known from DE 197 00 349 C2, which corresponds to US 2004/0129163, which is incorporated herein by reference, is based on the fact that materials with lower density than the highly effective terminal-ballistic penetration material (referred to below as the penetrator) at high projectile speeds remain in the target compared to the highly effective terminal ballistic penetrator. The enclosed expansion medium breaks the projectile body open under compression on the impact of the projectile and leads to splinter formation.


DE 10 2004 005 042 B4 discloses a universal KE projectile. This differs from known projectiles of this type in that an outer penetrator is mounted around a central penetrator, the outer penetrator contains spherical and/or cylindrical ductile heavy metals and is implemented in an arched shape. The same design can be seen in the central penetrator.


DE 10 2011 011 478 A1 discloses a frangible projectile, especially for practice purposes. This is based on the ammunition known as PELE® ammunition, which is known from DE 197 00 349 C1. For this it will be stated that the construction of such frangible projectiles, especially in the medium-caliber range, places high demands on the production thereof. The segment parts and the core part must be inserted into the outer sleeve area. This must be done precisely in order not to disturb the flight characteristics. In addition, the individual parts must be joined to each other. Said joints are then subject to high demands, for example with regard to launch strength, connectivity to the expansion medium, etc. The basic idea is therefore to make the projectile in one piece. In this case the impact affects the whole projectile. The projectile has recesses for an expansion medium distributed over the cross-section.


Such projectiles are launched from barreled weapons with a spin to stabilize the projectile position on the trajectory. The very high rotation rate imparted by the spin of the projectile also places high demands on the roundness of the projectile body and the penetrator in order to achieve the desired hit accuracy.


SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a projectile with a high hit accuracy. Another aspect is to reduce the effort required to produce this projectile.


In an exemplary embodiment, a projectile body is advantageously formed as a tube section from very brittle, hardened material. In its rear part there is a penetrator. This compresses an expansion medium on hitting a target. This leads to the break-up of the body of the projectile. Due to the brittleness of the material of the projectile body, the desired splinter formation is achieved. The projectile body, together with a projectile rear, guides the penetrator during the passage thereof through the barrel during firing and during the flight to the target.


This roundness cannot be achieved by simply cutting a long barrel into suitable barrel sections, as the barrel sections warp during the hardening process. However, on the one hand warped sections of barrel lead to poor hit accuracy. On the other hand, completion with a very precisely manufactured penetrator can lead to fractures of the body during production. The consequence may be an increased rejection rate. But also during launch there can be fractures of the projectile, i.e. in the weapon or shortly after leaving the muzzle, which then leads to the premature disintegration of the projectile. The required roundness of the body is therefore usually achieved by reworking, such as fine turning or cylindrical grinding, of the inner and outer diameters. This reworking is carried out outside and inside over the full length of the section of barrel that is produced oversize.


However, the invention is based on the idea of not reworking the body to the required roundness inside and out over its entire length, but on carrying out the reworking of the inner diameter for the accommodation of the penetrator from one side or from both sides at a distance from the center of the body of the projectile. This obtains a constriction remaining in the region of the middle of the barrel section.


The constriction has the advantage that, for example, the penetrator can be set against said constriction during the production of the penetrator instead of resting against the softer expansion medium. Also, it is achieved that when the object is hit, when the body is decelerated, the penetrator safely breaks said projectile body open at the constriction due to its inertia. This safe breakup leads to the desired splinter formation of the body. In addition, due to the longitudinal fixing of the penetrator, oscillation of the penetrator inside the projectile or the body of the projectile is prevented, which leads to improved precision of the projectile.


Another advantage of a projectile body designed in this way is the relative independence from the mechanical properties of the expansion medium. In addition, all materials and material forms already shown in DE 197 00 349 C1 can be used. In a special version, an expansion medium can also be dispensed with.


The aforementioned versions are adaptable for a projectile in the caliber range of 12 to 76 mm, in particular 12.7 mm.


Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes, combinations, and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.





BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus, are not limitive of the present invention, and wherein the sole FIGURE illustrates a projectile according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.





DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The single FIGURE shows a projectile 1 (frangible projectile) with a penetrator 2 encased in a projectile body 3. An expansion medium 4 is inserted in front of the penetrator in the projectile body 3. The projectile body 3 is completed by a projectile stern 5 on the rear side. The body 3 has a projectile ogive 6 on the front side. The projectile ogive 6 can preferably be joined to the projectile body 3 by means of a screw connection.


The special feature of the projectile 1 is that a constriction 7 for the penetrator 2 is introduced into the projectile body 3 (or a protrusion when viewed from the perspective of the inner diameter of the projectile body 3), on which the penetrator 2 can be supported within the projectile body 3. The constriction 7 is preferably provided in the central region 8 of the projectile body 3. The constriction 7 can also be present circumferentially in the projectile body 3. However, partial solutions are not excluded.


With the impact of the projectile 1 on an unspecified target, the projectile body 3 is decelerated. The penetrator 2, on the other hand, is moved further due to inertia, compressing the softer expansion medium 4. At the same time, the projectile body 3 breaks open at the constriction 7, resulting in a safe and desired splinter formation by the projectile body 3. If this force is sufficient, in special cases an expansion medium 4 can be dispensed with.


An alternative to the constriction in the middle region 8 of the projectile body 3 forms an off-center constriction. The principle of operation is the same as described.


The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are to be included within the scope of the following claims.

Claims
  • 1. A method for the production of a projectile body for a projectile, the projectile comprising a penetrator, the projectile body, a projectile stern and a projectile ogive, the method comprising: producing the projectile body as a tube section; andprocessing a surface of an inner diameter of the projectile body such that a constriction is obtained in the tube section, the constriction configured to support the penetrator,wherein in order to produce the constriction, the surface of the inner diameter of the projectile body is processed from both front and rear sides of the projectile body, such that the inner diameter of the projectile body at the constriction is smaller than at all remaining portions of the inner diameter provided forward and rearward of the constriction, andwherein the surface of the inner diameter of the projectile body is processed such that, with respect to an axial direction of the inner diameter, a length of the constriction is smaller than a length of each of the remaining portions of the inner diameter provided forward and rearward of the constriction.
  • 2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the constriction is disposed in a central region of the projectile body.
  • 3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the constriction is disposed off-center in the projectile body.
  • 4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the constriction is formed so as to be circumferential around the inner diameter of the projectile body.
Priority Claims (1)
Number Date Country Kind
10 2017 106 526.1 Mar 2017 DE national
Parent Case Info

This nonprovisional application is a continuation of International Application No. PCT/EP2018/055752, which was filed on Mar. 8, 2018, and which claims priority to German Patent Application No. 10 2017 106 526.1, which was filed in Germany on Mar. 27, 2017, and which are both herein incorporated by reference.

US Referenced Citations (24)
Number Name Date Kind
2322751 Studler Jun 1943 A
3780658 de Longueville Dec 1973 A
3782287 Sie Jan 1974 A
3795196 Hillenbrand Mar 1974 A
4108072 Trinks Aug 1978 A
4353302 Strandli et al. Oct 1982 A
4353305 Moreau Oct 1982 A
4444112 Strandli et al. Apr 1984 A
5160805 Winter Nov 1992 A
5442989 Anderson Aug 1995 A
5656792 Rentzsch et al. Aug 1997 A
5794320 Wernz et al. Aug 1998 A
6659013 Kellner Dec 2003 B1
6772695 Kellner Aug 2004 B2
6772696 Kellner Aug 2004 B2
6789484 Kellner Sep 2004 B2
7520224 Taylor Apr 2009 B2
8074574 Riess et al. Dec 2011 B2
10082376 Thomas Sep 2018 B1
10393487 Riess Aug 2019 B2
10942014 Stenzel Mar 2021 B2
20040069176 Kellner Apr 2004 A1
20070006766 Kellner Jan 2007 A1
20100224093 Wilhelm et al. Sep 2010 A1
Foreign Referenced Citations (19)
Number Date Country
351522 Jan 1961 CH
1428679 Sep 1977 DE
2727970 Jan 1978 DE
8137891 May 1985 DE
4024543 Feb 1992 DE
19535218 Feb 1997 DE
19604061 Aug 1997 DE
19700349 Aug 1998 DE
29817416 Jan 1999 DE
102004005042 Sep 2005 DE
102004036148 Feb 2006 DE
102006025330 Dec 2007 DE
102011011478 Aug 2012 DE
2551630 Jan 2013 EP
764833 May 1934 FR
831405 Mar 1960 GB
831405 Mar 1960 GB
1605020 Dec 1981 GB
WO2004003460 Jan 2004 WO
Non-Patent Literature Citations (3)
Entry
Written Opinion of the International Searching Authority in PCT/EP2018/055752 (Year: dated 2018).
Machine translation of DE8137891U1, Rheinmetall GMBH (Year: 1995).
International Search Report dated May 29, 2018 in corresponding application PCT/EP2018/055752.
Related Publications (1)
Number Date Country
20200166317 A1 May 2020 US
Continuations (1)
Number Date Country
Parent PCT/EP2018/055752 Mar 2018 US
Child 16581825 US