Novel Combustible Small Arms Ammunitions

The objective of this SBIR Phase I proposal is to develop novel lightweight combustible small arms ammunitions to replace brass cased ammunitions with improved burning efficiency and mechanical properties, alleviated weight and superior ballistic performance. In order to deliver a cost-effective and highly performed combustible cartridge that meets all the requirements and is suitable for mass production, Frontier has developed novel combustible materials, coating formulation, cartridge design, and processing techniques. During the Phase I effort, Frontier will demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed concepts, identify and address the present technical hurdles, perform proof-of-principle validation as well as address the performance-cost issues. By the end of Phase I, the combustible materials, cartridge designs and fabrication process will be studied and optimized, which will provide a solid foundation for Phase II to conduct extensive performance validations for the proposed novel lightweight combustible cartridge technology for small arms ammunitions. The success of the proposed technology will lead to develop novel lightweight combustible small arms ammunitions with superior ballistic accuracy, significantly improved structural strength and substantially reduced weight as compared with legacy brass cased ammunitions. Moreover, this novel combustible cartridge will be designed to maintain its performance throughout the environmental shock and lifespan.