Warhead

Brief description of the invention

The invention relates to a tandem battle part or a double-acting battle part More specifically the invention relates to a battle part comprising two active battle parts, one part intended to penetrate the mechanical protection of the targets electrical system and the other part intended to influence the targets electrical system, which after the penetration has become accessible, by means of performing an attack against the targets electrical system

Background of the invention

Modern military and civilian systems are becoming more and more dependent on electronics to perform its functions and as a consequence more and more susceptible for intentional or non-intentional influence of electric or electromagnetic nature In the scenario that the influence is intentional, i e intended to knock out the electrical power distribution net for the system, the use of HPM-radiation ("High Power Microwaves") is well-known Generally the HPM-radiation consists of either a single pulse or a number of pulses in a so called pulse train By controlling the energy content of a pulse it is possible to control the impact of the action A small number of pulses with high energy content could be used to destroy the components while a larger number of less energetic pulses act as a disruption for the system In general the HPM-radiation penetrates the targets electrical system in two different ways, either through a so called front-door coupling or through a back-door coupling During front-door coupling the penetration occurs through antennas, sensors and alike while during back-door coupling the penetration occurs through casings, cables and other imperfect shieldings such as packings, screw joints, rivet joins and alike The back-door coupling therefore mainly occurs through structural imperfections in the target If these structural imperfections were minimised this would lead to a minimisation of the negative effects from back-door coupled radiation An example of protection against back-door coupling is, since metal yields a good protection against both electromagnetic radiation and direct deliverance of electrical currents, metal hulls but it is also possible to equip sensitive parts such as joints and openings with some sort of electromagnetic shielding Moreover, it is also possible to device a purely mechanical protection that surrounds the sensitive electronic circuitry In light of these protective arrangements it is obvious that there exist a need to more actively

disrupt the targets electrical system through means of electromagnetic pulses In particular it would be interesting to try to disrupt the electrical system of a target through means of a device intended for this purpose According to the invention the device that performs the attack against the targets electrical system can comprise conventional HPM-weapons or be a device for direct delivery of currents to the system The present invention aim to provide such an active way through a tandem battle part according to claim 1

Brief description of the invention

The present invention relates in its simplest form to a double-acting battle part whose active parts consists of a shield penetrating battle part and a battle part intended for an attack on the electric/electronic circuitry The shield penetrating battle part is intended to act before the electrical attack The part intended for the electrical attack comprises either a battle part that is designed to create a galvanic contact with conducting parts in the electrical system of the target or a conventional HPM- weapon It is also possible to design such a battle part so that it delivers X-ray radiation, laser or some other form of radiation The first part, the shield penetrating battle part, constitutes some sort of battle part that is intended to penetrate a shield or a hull on the target This battle part could be a projectile, a battle part using shock waves or splitter fragments, a shaped charge warhead or some other type of conventional penetrating part

Drawings

Fig 1 discloses schematically a battle part according to the present invention where a separating structure 9 separates the penetrating battle part 1 from the battle part 2 that is intended to perform an attack against the electronic system of the target

Fig 2 discloses a preferred embodiment of a tandem battle part intended to be used when the target contains both an outer hull, that has to be penetrated, and an inner protection for its electrical system such as insulated cables and alike

Embodiments

In the following section embodiments of tandem battle parts according to the present invention will be described with references to the drawings. Before we give a more detailed description of these embodiments we will provide a brief summary of the used terminology.

With the targets outer shielding is meant the physical protection that surrounds the target. This could be a hull or a coach in the case the target is a ship or a vehicle, but it could also be a wall in the case the target is a building.

With the protection for the electrical system is meant such devices that surrounds cables and alike. These could be cable casings but it could also be cables shielded in some other way, i.e. through metal plates and alike. With HPM-weapon is intended those weapons whose purpose is to disturb or destroy a system by means of delivered microwave radiation. It could also mean conventional microwave sources such as radar sources if the intention is to use the radiation to disturb the system.

With a current injector is meant a current/voltage source brought into galvanic contact with conductors in the structure inside the inner protection.

In the first embodiment, which refers to figure 2, the purpose is to use a tandem battle part 1 to first penetrate the outer structure of the target, said structure could be a hull or alike, and then penetrate the outer shielding of the targets electrical system, this shielding could in turn be such a protective structure as a cable casing or alike. In this embodiment the part intended to attack the targets electrical system comprises a device that is subject for a separate patent application with the same inventors and applicant as the present invention. Needless to say it also possible that the tandem battle part as such comprises a first protection penetrating part and a second part comprising a HPM-source, x-ray source etc. The parts included in the device according to the first embodiment comprises contact organs 4 in the shape of nails intended to be fired into the protective casing that surrounds the electrical system to thereby create a galvanic contact between a pulse generating organ 4 and the electrical system of the target. When used in an attack against a target the battle part 2 will act first to penetrate the targets outer structure, i.e. a hull. This can be achieved by means of a tandem battle part 1 that has an outer structure shaped as a projectile that is fired through the outer hull. When this hull has been penetrated the

battle part 3 that by now is placed inside the target, will be activated. The contact making nails 4 are fired out in such a way that they can hit some conducting structure within the target. The firing of the nails is performed by means of a firing organ 5 that can be arranged in a number of different ways, the nails could be fired through either releasing clamped springs or through detonations. The activation of the firing mechanism could either be controlled manually through remote controlling or by means of time activation wherein the activation occurs after a certain time period, that is, after a pre-set time period. Another possible solution is to provide this battle part with a sensor/actuator system which, when used, will activate the firing mechanism. A non-excluding example of such a system comprises a sensor that detects the temperature in its close vicinity. Since the penetration will lead to a substantial temperature raise in the area around the penetrated hole in the hull the sensor could detect the temperature and compare it with a threshold-temperature. If the detected temperature is higher than the threshold-temperature the actuator could activate the firing mechanism There are other possible sensor/actuator systems that are obvious for the skilled person. All these are intended to fall within the scope of the present invention. When the firing of the contact nails has been performed and these nails either has been fired in through the inner protective shielding of the electronic circuitry, which, for example, could be a cable, or obtained a galvanic contact with a electrically conducting part of the system, the contact nails 4 will deliver high voltage pulses generated in the generator 5 to the targets electrical system. These delivered high voltage pulses will either ruin or disturb the electrical system of the target. As has been mentioned earlier the above given operation constitutes only one possible configuration of a tandem battle part according to the invention. It is also possible to use other disturbance methods and other signals that can act when the generating organ has been placed inside the targets external structure/hull. When using conventional HPM-weapons, instead of the current injecting device described above, to disturb the electrical system of a target the step to penetrate the protective casing of the electrical system is not necessary. In this case the problem resides in penetrating the outer structure of the target and then let the conventional HPM- weapon act when placed inside the target. The activation of this battle part can be performed in the same manner as the earlier described embodiment. It is even possible to integrate the tandem battle part according to the invention in a platform. Such a platform could, for example, be a missile, a ballistic bomb, a grenade or alike.