Claims
- 1. An improved subcaliber fin-stabilizer penetrator projectile which has a ballistic hood coaxially mounted on the front end thereof and a plurality of pre-penetrator cores consisting essentially of tungsten alloy and mounted one behind the other in an axial direction behind said ballistic hood, and a main penetrator body consisting essentially of tungsten alloy, a cylindrical casing having a smooth external surface being operatively detachably connected with said main penetrator body, said plurality of pre-penetrator cores being operatively mounted partially in said cylindrical casing and partially in said ballistic hood, the improvement comprising in combination
- (a) said cylindrical casing axially extends rearwardly from the ballistic hood to a forward region of the main penetrator;
- (b) the outer diameter of the main penetrator corresponds to the outer diameter of the cylindrical casing so that the projectile presents a substantially smooth outer cylindrical surface over its entire axial length with the exception of the ballistic hood;
- (c) each one of the plurality of pre-penetrator cores has the same external diameter and said plurality of pre-penetrator cores are of complementary shape so that the front surface of the rearmost core abuts against the rear mating surface of the next forwardly positioned pre-penetrator core and so on;
- (d) the mutually contacting front and rear surfaces of the respective pre-penetrator cores are matingly shaped;
- (e) the confronting surfaces of the adjoining pre-penetrator cores are complementarily axially convexly and concavely shaped;
- (f) each pair of confronting surfaces of adjoining cores and said casing jointly define an annular space in said casing;
- (g) the rear end surface of each pre-penetrator core and the front surface of the corresponding pre-penetrator core being rounded off and matingly shaped so that when the foremost pre-penetrator core pivots with respect to the next rearwardly adjoining pre-penetrator core the next rearwardly adjoining pre-penetrator core maintains its direction of movement;
- (h) there are only two pre-penetrator cores present, a front pre-penetrator core followed by a rear pre-penetrator core, both made of brittle materials;
- (i) the casing is of unitary construction relative to the ballistic hood and consists essentially of aluminum;
- (j) the casing is exchangeably mounted at its rear end, said penetrator body has a front end portion which has a smaller diameter than the remainder of said penetrator body, said casing being mounted on said front end portion;
- (k) the casing maintains the pre-penetrator cores in confronting position by way of mutually engaging play free seats;
- (l) the main penetrator body and at least the rear pre-penetrator core which follows the front pre-penetrator core have on their frontal surfaces cutting edges which are normal to the longitudinal axis of the projectile and respective first and second fracture zones are formed in said casing in confronting relationship to said cutting edges;
- (m) the degree of convexity, respectively concavity of the abutting surfaces of the pre-penetrator cores which act like pivot joints in the region of the fracture zones is in all regions identical;
- (n) the casing has in the region of the first fracture zone between both pre-penetrators a weakened wall portion so that the casing and the first pre-penetrator core break off, as soon as the latter impacts on the first target plate when the impact is influenced by lateral forces;
- (o) the wall thickness and the material properties of the casing are selected in such a way that the casing in the region of the second fracture zone breaks up as soon as the second pre-penetrator penetrates into the middle target plate of a triple plate on that target; and
- (p) the casing is of such a strength that each pre-penetrator core centers on the main penetrator body in the target direction until its penetration into the corresponding target plate.
- 2. The improved subcaliber penetrator projectile defined in claim 1, wherein said penetrator projectile includes the front and the rear pre-penetrator, the mass ratio of the front pre-penetrator to the rear pre-penetrator to the main penetrator body is generally 1:1.2:6.
- 3. The improved subcaliber penetrator projectile as set forth in claim 1, wherein said ballistic hood is made out of light metal alloy and has a forward-most mushroom-shaped steel point.
- 4. An improved subcaliber fin-stabilized penetrator projectile for combating multi-armor plated targets having a projectile body of uniform cylindrical shape over substantially its entire axial length, the improvement comprising in combination:
- a main penetrator element;
- a front and a rear preselected armor-piercing pre-penetrator element said pre-penetrator elements being coaxially operatively mounted in front of said main penetrator element;
- a cylindrical casing of uniform wall thickness having a substantially smooth exterior wall surface encompassing said pre-penetrator elements and a forward portion of said main penetrator element, said cylindrical casing being mounted on the forward portion of said main penetrator via detachable connecting means;
- a ballistic hood unitary with the cylindrical casing, both the hood and the cylindrical casing being made of light metal;
- the exterior diameter of the main penetrator element behind said detachable connecting means being equal to the exterior diameter of the cylindrical casing so as to prevent a continuous uniform cylindrical surface;
- the respective regions of adjoining pre-penetrator elements which adjoin each other being respectively convexly and concavely matingly shaped, said matingly shaped adjoining regions providing a pivoting movement of adjoining pre-penetrator elements upon target impact:
- said projectile having two fracture zones a first one of which is disposed between said pre-penetrator elements and a second one of which is disposed between the rear pre-penetrator element and the main penetrator element and said casing having a weakened wall at said first fracture zone, the casing and the pre-penetrator elements being exchangeable, whereby the materials of said pre-penetrator elements and said casing can be preselected in accordance with the target prior to use by detaching said casing from said main penetrator element and mounting preselected pre-penetrator elements in said casing prior to assembly.
- 5. The improved subcaliber penetrator projectile as set forth in claim 4, including a shock absorbing dampening element disposed between adjoining pre-penetrator elements and between the rear pre-penetrator element and the main penetrator element said shock absorbing dampening element consisting of a material selected from the group of materials of light metal, light metal alloy and synthetic material, said dampening element having an axial length which is less than the axial length of any one of the pre-penetrator elements.
- 6. The improved subcaliber penetrator projectile defined in claim 4, wherein the mass ratio of the front pre-penetrator element to the rear pre-penetrator element to the main penetrator element is generally 1:1.2:6.
- 7. The improved subcaliber penetrator projectile as set forth in claim 4, wherein said ballistic hood is made out of light metal alloy and has a forward-most mushroom-shaped steel point.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
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3209594 |
Mar 1982 |
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This is a continuation-in-part application of our co-pending application Ser. No. 759,059, filed July 24, 1985, now abandoned which is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 476,409, filed Mar. 17, 1983 and now abandoned.
This application is also related to our co-assigned and allowed application Ser. No. 412,794, filed Aug. 23, 1982 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,708,064 and Ser. No. 476,408, filed Mar. 17, 1983, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,635,556.
US Referenced Citations (9)
Continuation in Parts (2)
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Number |
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Parent |
759059 |
Jul 1985 |
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Parent |
476409 |
Mar 1983 |
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