Patent Application
20150083012
Embodiments of the present invention are directed to ammunition, and more particularly to ammunition configured to mark an impact area, and related methods.
The United States Armed Forces uses training ammunition to provide realistic high-fidelity training to its service members. The rise in night-time visual devices has required corresponding advances in training ammunition. Typically, tracers are placed in the aft-most end of the projectiles while impact markers are placed in the fore-most end; i.e., the nose of the projectiles such that they are activated and/or dispersed upon projectile impact. This provides an impact signature visible to the gunner to help confirm whether the fire is on target, whether correction to the aim is needed and, most importantly, the direction of the correction. A major disadvantage of a nose-mounted impact marker comes from the very fact that the signature material/device is positioned in the projectile's nose; in that the projectile's body is between the impact signature and the gunner so that the projectile body can block or otherwise obscure a major portion of the impact signature. This condition is further exasperated should the projectile impact a soft target such as earth, snow, water, and the like. Under these conditions, the projectile may penetrate into the “soft” target before the impact signature material deploys, thus completely obscuring the projectile's impact from the gunner. Thus there is a need to make the impact signature visible to the gunner regardless of the nature of the target. Furthermore, the applicable tracer and impact signature materials need to be such that they do not cause range fires upon activation/ejection/deployment.
The present disclosure is directed to a rear ejection impact marking ammunition assembly that overcomes drawbacks of the prior art and provide other benefits. The ammunition assembly in accordance with at least one embodiment provides a target-marking ammunition assembly fireable from a firing system toward a target. The assembly comprises a tubular body having a marking chamber disposed between opposing leading and trailing end portions. The trailing end portion has an opening therein in communication with the marking chamber. A nose ogive is attached to the leading end portion of the tubular body. A pusher is disposed in the nose ogive and is at least partially adjacent to the marking chamber. The pusher is axially moveable relative to the tubular body's trailing end portion. A signature material is disposed in the marking chamber, and an aft cover member is connected to the trailing end portion of the tubular body. The cover has an aperture therein in communication with the marking chamber and positioned to contain the signature material in the marking chamber until impact. The pusher is axially movable toward the trailing end portion and at least partially into the marking chamber to eject the signature marker from the marking chamber through the trailing end portion when the nose ogive impacts the target. The signature material marks the target upon ejection from the marking chamber after the nose ogive and pusher impact the target.
In another embodiment, a target-marking ammunition assembly comprises a tubular body having an interior chamber disposed between opposing leading and trailing end portions. An ejectable payload is disposed in the interior chamber, and a nose portion is attached to the leading end portion of the body. A pusher is adjacent to the nose and the leading end portion of the body. At least a portion of the pusher is adjacent to the interior chamber and is axially moveable relative to the interior chamber and the body's trailing end portion to push the payload rearwardly away from the nose. An aft cover member is connected to the trailing end portion of the tubular body and is configured to retain the payload in the body until the nose portion impacts a target. At least a portion of the aft cover is separable from the body when the pusher pushes the payload rearwardly away from the nose. The pusher is axially movable toward the trailing end portion and at least partially into the marking chamber to eject the payload from the interior out the trailing end portion when the nose impacts the target, wherein the payload ejected from the trailing end portion is configured to mark the target without being obscured by the body or the portions of the target after impact.
In another embodiment, a target-marking ammunition assembly, fireable from a firing device, comprises a body having an interior chamber disposed between opposing leading and trailing end portions. An ejectable payload is disposed in the marking chamber, and at least a portion of the payload is a tracer element configured to emit a traceable signature from behind the body during travel along a trajectory. A nose portion is coupled to the leading end portion of the body. A pusher is adjacent to the leading end portion of the body, and at least a portion of the pusher is adjacent to the interior chamber and being axially moveable relative to the interior chamber and the body's trailing end portion to eject the payload rearwardly through the body's trailing end portion to mark the target without the ejected payload being obscured by the body or the portions of the target after impact. An aft cover member is connected to the trailing end portion of the tubular body and is configured to retain the payload in the body until the nose portion impacts a target. The aft cover member has a window portion that provides visibility from the rear of the body to the payload in the interior chamber during travel along the trajectory.
The present disclosure describes an ammunition assembly 10 configured to mark an impact area in accordance with certain embodiments of the present invention. Several specific details of the invention are set forth in the following description and the Figures to provide a thorough understanding of certain embodiments of the invention. One skilled in the art, however, will understand that the present invention may have additional embodiments, and that other embodiments of the invention may be practiced without several of the specific features described below.
In at least one configuration, the projectile 100 has a substantially tubular body 24 with a pusher 26 in the nose ogive 28 and a protective cover 30 at the projectile rear 32 with the signature material 22 between the two. The tubular projectile body 24 is fabricated of a structurally strong material such as a steel alloy, or other suitably strong material, sized to fit the barrel 34 of the firing system 14 (
Upon firing the ammunition assembly 10, the propellant gases act on the large diameter of the aft cover 50, pushing it and the rest of the projectile 100 down and out of the weapon's barrel 34. The stepped “hat” configuration of the aft cover 50 serves to transmit the propelling force of the propellant gasses directly upon the entire projectile 100 through the tubular projectile body 24. This action, combined with the tapered configuration/interface of the forward end of the tubular projectile body 24 and pusher 26, prevents the premature forward or aft ejection of the signature material ampoule 48.
Upon impact with the target 18, the impact forces will collapse the thin-wall streamlined windscreen 42 allowing the pusher 26 to be acted upon by the force of target impact. This force will drive the pusher 26 into the projectile's tubular body 24, the ductile pusher 26 swaging down as the tapered configuration/interface dictates. Should the target impact be off-axis, the ductile nature of the pusher 26 will still enable the pusher 26 to be driven into the tubular projectile body 24. The act of the target impact forces driving the pusher 26 into the tubular projectile body 24 will cause the pusher 26 to in turn crush/rupture the signature material ampoule 48 then push it and the aft cover 50 rearward out of the tubular projectile body 24, thus ejecting the signature material 22 (or other payload) rearward towards the gunner. As discussed above, the payload can be a signature material 22 that marks the impact area 16 (
In other embodiments, the ammunition assembly 10 can carry other payloads within the projectile body 24 that are ejected out the rear end of the projectile 100 upon impact. For example, the payload can be an energetic material, a gas generating material, an ignition material (one which can intentionally generate sufficient heat to ignite material at the impact area 16), a signature-effect material, or other selected payloads. Depending upon the nature of the signature material 22; for example a chemiluminescent material, in one embodiment of the projectile 100 and its components, the signature material 22 could perform a tracer function prior to target impact and subsequent ejection/target impact marking functioning.
In another embodiment shown in
In operation of at least one embodiment, the tracer ammunition assembly 10 is fired from the gun 15 (
The tracer ammunition assembly 10 of the illustrated embodiment also has the pusher 26 within the projectile body 24. When the projectile 100 impacts the target 18 (
From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that specific embodiments of the invention have been described herein for purposes of illustration, but that various modifications may be made without deviating from the invention. Additionally, aspects of the invention described in the context of particular embodiments or examples may be combined or eliminated in other embodiments. Although advantages associated with certain embodiments of the invention have been described in the context of those embodiments, other embodiments may also exhibit such advantages. Additionally, not all embodiments need necessarily exhibit such advantages to fall within the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not limited except as by the appended claims.
This non-provisional patent application hereby claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/510,012, titled Rear Ejection Impact Marking Ammunition Assembly, filed Jul. 20, 2011, and which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference thereto.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61510012 | Jul 2011 | US |
