CASELESS AMMUNITION GUN SYSTEM

THE CONVERSION OF A CONVENTIONAL CANON-CALIBER GUN SYSTEM TO A CASELESS AMMUNITION SYSTEM WILL CUT THE WEIGHT OF AMMUNITION IN HALF, REDUCE THE SPACE REQUIRED FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF THIS SYSTEM BY ONE-THIRD, LOWER OVERALL COSTS SIGNIFICANTLY, ELIMINATE THE NEED FOR SPECIAL STRATEGIC MATERIALS, AND RESULT IN IMPORTANT SAFETY ADVANTAGES. TO BE SUCCESSFUL, HOWEVER, A CASELESS SYSTEM MUST REPLACE ALL FUNCTIONS CURRENTLY PERFORMED BY THE CASE: OBTURATION, STRUCTURAL STRENGTH, HEAT TRANSFER AND HANDLEABILITY. THE SOLUTION TO THESE PROBLEMS REQUIRES SPECIAL APPLICATIONS OF THERMAL AND HIGHPRESSURE-GAS TECHNOLOGY. OUR MORE THAN 20 YEARS EXPERIENCE IN STUDYING CASELESS AMMUNITION SYSTEMS AND OUR RECENT SUCCESSFUL DEVELOPMENT OF A 7.62 CASELESS GUN SYSTEM HAS LED TO TECHNICAL ADVANCES THAT INDICATE A CANON-CALIBER, CASELESS SYSTEM IS NOW WITHIN OUR GRASP. THE PURPOSE OF THIS PHASE I EFFORT IS TO DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF APPLYING SPECIAL SEALING, ABLATOR, CONSOLIDATION, AND ENCAPSULATION TECHNIQUES--WHICH HAVE ALREADY BEEN SHOWN TO BE PROMISING AT SMALLER CALIBERS--TO A SYSTEM IN THE CANON-CALIBER RANGE. RISK WILL BE CONSIDERABLY REDUCED BY LIMITING THIS FEASIBILITY STUDY TO THE CONVERSION OF AN EXISTING CONVENTIONAL SYSTEM TO A CARELESS SYSTEM, RATHER THAN ATTEMPTING TO DEVELOP A CANNON-CALIBER CASELESS SYSTEM FROM SCRATCH.