REDUCING THE SENSITIVITY OF DIRECTED ENERGY WARHEADS TO UNPLANNED STIMULI

MANY EXPLOSIVE WARHEADS ARE SENSITIVE TO INITIATION BY FRAGMENT OR BULLET IMPACT AND SYMPATHETIC DETONATION. DIRECTED-ENERGY WARHEADS IN PARTICULAR ARE OFTEN LOADED WITH VERY ENERGETIC EXPLOSIVE TO OBTAIMANCE AT THE EXPENSE OF INCREASE SENSITIVITY. THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED PROGRAM IS TO DETERMINE THE MOST EFFECTIVE APPROACH TO REDUCING THE SENSITIVITY OF AN EXISTING WARHEAD, SUCH AS THE SFW OR TOW 2. THE REDUCTION IN SENSITIVITY WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED BY SUBSTITUTING AN INSENSITIVE EXPLOSIVE AND THEN REDESIGNING THE WARHEAD CONFIGURATION TO YIELD THE SAME PENETRATION PERFORMANCE. ALTERNATIVELY, THE CURRENT EXPLOSIVE WILL BE RETAINED BUT THE WARHEAD CASING WILL BE REDESIGNED TO REDUCE SENSITIVITY. ATTENTION MUST BE GIVEN TO 1) THE PENETRATOR PERFORMANCE; 2) WARHEAD SENSITIVITY TO IMPACT; AND 3) COST AND MANUFACTURABILITY. WARHEAD DESIGNS USING EACH APPROACH WILL BE GENERATED, AND A FEASIBILITY DEMONSTRATION WILL BE PERFORMED DURING WHICH TWO CANDIDATE DESIGNS WILL BE BUILT AND TESTED. CONCLUSION WILL BE REACHED REGARDING THE FEASIBILITY FOR THE APPROACHES CHOSEN.