NUCLEAR WEAPON EFFECTS CALCULATION

A RESEARCH PROGRAM IS PROPOSED TO REDUCE UNCERTAINTY FACTORS IN MASS LOSS RATIO, "G LAY", CORRELATIONS THAT ARE CURRENTLY USED IN MATERIAL RESPONSE CODES FOR PREDICTING FRATRICIDE EFFECTS ON STRATEGIC WEAPON SYSTEMS. MASS LOSS RATIO IS DEFINED AS THE RATIO OF THE MASS FLUX OF ERODED NOSETIP DIVIDED BY THE MASS FLUX OF INCOMING PARTICLES FROM AN EROSIVE ENVIRONMENT. RECENT DNA SPONSORED PROGRAMS HAVE IDENTIFIED "G LAW" UNCERTAINTIES, WHICH HAVE BEEN QUANTIFIED AS A FACTOR OF TWO, ANS AN IMPORTANT CRITERIA IN THE CONSIDERATION IN PLANNING TARGETING AND STRIKE TIMEING. THE FOLLOWING PROGRAM PROPOSES TO APPLY AND REFINE NEW TRANSIENT DEBRIS SHIELDING MODELS TO EXISTING BALLISTIC RANGE DATA AND FLIGHT DATA. AT THE TIME THESE DATA WERE OBTAINED, DEBRIS SHIELDING MODLES AND THE INTERVALS BETWEEN PARTICLE DISCRETE FIELDS (TRANSIENT EFFECTS) IN BALLISTIC RANGES WERE NOT UNDERSTOOD OR INCORPORATED INTO MASS LOSS CORRELATIONS. RE-EXAMINATION OF THIS EXISTING DATABASE TOGETHER WITH IMPROVED MODELING FROM CURRENT DNA PROGRAMS TO INCLUDE TRANSIENT DEBRIS SHIELDING WITH COUOPLED EFFECTS MODELING SHOULD ENABLE IMPROVEMENTS TO THE BASIC "G LAWS" MODELS. THIS WORK CAN LEAD TO IMPROVED TEST DIAGNOSTICS AND A LIMITED TEST PROGRAM TO VALIDATE THE MODELS IN A PHASE II PROGRAM.