Novel Combustible Small Arms Ammunitions

The objective of this SBIR Phase II proposal is to demonstrate Frontier's innovative combustible materials for combustible small arms ammunition applications to achieve excellent burning efficiency with a very low burning residue, retain excellent structure integrity, accomplish more than 40% weight reduction and attain superior ballistic performance. In order to deliver a cost-effective lightweight combustible ammunition that meets all the requirements and is suitable for mass production, Frontier has investigated novel combustible materials, coating formulation and cartridge design, and researched various fabrication and processing techniques. During Phase I efforts, Frontier has successfully developed highly combustible materials and also developed several cartridge component fabrication processes and a combustible cartridge assembly process. 7.62mm combustible cartridge prototypes were produced and their ballistic performance as well as combustion behavior from ballistic testing were studied. The Phase I results validated the ballistic performance as well as burning efficiency of the proposed combustible small arms ammunition concept.