Warhead

Brief description of the invention

The invention relates to a device that can be used to deliver electrical disturbance pulses to an electrical system. The invention also relates to a method to use said device to obtain access to the targets electrical system and then deliver electrical pulses generated in the device to either destroy or disturb components in the system. The main idea behind the invention can be realised in an embodiment where the device contains three active parts, a pulse generator, a firing device and one or more contact organs that are connected to the pulse generator through electrically conducting elements. During use the firing device will either fire the contact organs into an outer electrically conducting structure of the target, or use some other way to bring these into a galvanic contact with an outer electrically conducting structure of the target. Such structures could for example be signal cables or other electrical wires that are either connected to the electronic circuitry of the target or are coupled to the electronic circuitry of the target in some other way. Due to the fact that the contact organs, which can have the form of nails, are connected to the pulse generator through electrical wires, the pulses generated in the generator can be delivered directly to the electronic system of the target.

Background to the invention

Modern military systems and civilian systems are more and more dependent on electronics to perform its functions and are, as a direct consequence thereof, more and more susceptible for intentional or unintentional influence of electric or electromagnetic nature. In the case the influence is intentional, i.e. intended to knock out the systems electrical distribution net, it is well known to use HPM (High Power Microwaves). In general 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 such 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 components while a larger number of less energetic pulses rather would act as a disruption to the system. Quite generally HPM-radiation forces its way into the targets electrical system in two different ways, either through front-door coupling or through back-door coupling. In the case of frontdoor coupling the radiation forces its way in to the system through antennas, sensors

and alike while in the case of back-door coupling the radiation forces its way into the system through housings, cable joints and other non-ideal shields such as seals, screw unions and riveted joints As is clear from the above the main part of the backdoor coupling forces its way into the system through structural defects in the target If such structural defects are minimised this would lead to a minimisation of the negative effects of back-door couplings Possible protection against back-door coupling could be, since metal shields give an effective protection against electromagnetic radiation, metal hulls but it is also possible to provide sensitive parts such as joints and openings with some sort of electromagnetic shielding Due to such provisions it is obvious that there is a need for a more active way to destroy or disturb the electrical system of a target by injecting currents or voltage pulses directly into the targets electronic system The present invention aims to provide such an active way by means of a method as defined in claim 7 and a device according to claim 1

Drawings

In what follows there will be described a method to gain access to the electronic system of a target and then affect the system through powerful disturbance pulses References will be made to fig 1 and fig 2, wherein

Fig 1 discloses a possible configuration of the device according to the following invention, and

Fig 2 discloses a possible configuration of the device according to the following invention wherein the firing organs and contact organs are embedded in an outer structure that surrounds the pulse generating organ

Embodiments

To aid the understanding here is given short definitions of the parts comprised in the device and some embodiments of the same

With contact organs is in this application intended some sort of electrically conducting elements that can be brought into galvanic contact with electrically conducting structures on the target These organs could for example be electrically conducting nails that are connected to the pulse generating organ by means of

flexible wires and that can be fired into the electrically conducting structures on the target, but it is also possible to use other geometric or purpose specific structures With firing organs is here intended the mechanism or the mechanisms that physically make the above given contact organs create a galvanic contact with the target It could be a pure firing mechanism that fires the organs into the intended structure by means of explosives, for example through burning powder charges, but it could also be a more or less advanced mechanism depending on the design of the contact organs The contact organs could, for example, be arranged in separate casings The contact organs could then be fired from these casings through either explosives or by means of clamped springs arranged at the lower end of the contact organs whereby the contact organs get fired from the casings when the springs are released In one embodiment the wires that connects the contact organs with the pulse generating organ could be wounded around the contact organs in such a way that the wires get unwounded during the contact organs flight towards the target, in another embodiment the wires could be wound up on a pulley that is also arranged in the casing, one end of the wire is here connected to the pulse generating organ while the other end is connected to the contact organs, the main length of the wire will then be rolled up on such a pulley whereby the wire gets unrolled when the contact organs get fired out The activation of these firing organs could, for example, be achieved through the means of a remote controlling system but it could also be achieved by a pre-set time activation or by a sensor-actuator system There are beside these disclosed mechanisms a number of additional ways of firing the contact organs, these possibilities should be obvious for a skilled person The specific choice of firing and activation mechanisms depends among other things on the specific material that shall be penetrated, the type of target that shall be affected and alike If it is a hard shell that shall be penetrated it might prove necessary to use a firing mechanism that fires the contact organs faster and harder while a softer material, for example a plastic casing on a regular electrical wire, makes it possible to use less powerful means, such as the above given spring system In certain applications it could also be desirable to use a more silent firing mechanism In such a case an arrangement as the above given spring mechanism is preferred In other cases, when a silent use is of no importance, a firing mechanism based on explosives could be used

With pulse generating organs is herein intended organs that generate pulses of high voltage or heavy current These types of organs are well known and will not be described closer herein

The contact organs described above are connected to the pulse generating organ by means of electrical wires Preferably the contact organs are connected in parallel to the pulse generating organ In certain applications, for example in the case where the firing mechanism is based upon the action of explosives, it is desirable to have wires that are resilient The wires shall, besides being resilient in general, also be able to withstand the tensions they experience upon firing of the contact organs Therefore it is both a material issue and a design issue to pick these wires One possible embodiment is given by a helical wire coated with a mechanically resilient material

In what follows there will be a description of embodiments of the device as a whole

Figure 1 discloses schematically an embodiment of the device according to the present invention The active parts in the device comprises a pulse generating organ 1 , one or more firing organs 2 and one or more contact organs 3, here given as nails, that are connected to the pulse generating organ 1 through electrical wires 4

Figure 2 discloses an embodiment of the present invention where the contact organs 3 are arranged in casings 5 that are embedded in a semi-arched form 6 The pulse generating organ 1 is placed inside the semi-arched form This figure also describes a conical outer form in cross-section

During use of the present invention a number of different strategies can be employed According to a first strategy the entire device could be placed in direct, or close, vicinity of the target and then be activated so that the contact organs are fired to randomly hit different parts of the target One example could be the case wherein the outer protective shielding of the target has been penetrated whereby the device according to the invention is inserted through the hole in the shielding and then activated, either through remote controlling or through a timer One advantage in this case is that the contact nails that hits a potentially conducting surface will experience a relatively low impedance and hence draw the main part of the current from the pulse generator while the contact organs that does not hit a conductive surface will

experience a higher impedance and thereby only draw a modest amount of current from the pulse generator

In another strategy for using the present device the device is placed, during a first step, within an active distance from the targets outer conducting structure, which, for example, could be a signal- or a power cable With active distance is meant that the device is placed closely enough to the target so that the firing organs are capable of developing enough power to create a galvanic contact between the contact organs and the target and that the wires extending between these contact organs and the pulse generator are long enough to uphold the electric connection

After the positioning step the firing organ 2 will be activated, this can, as has been mentioned earlier be done manually, by remote controlling and automatically through timer and alike The activation of the firing organ results in that the contact organs are fired into the cable As soon as the galvanic contact has been created the pulse generator will be activated This will result in that the cables in the target are hit by a cascade of transient heavy current pulses or high voltage pulses that has been generated by the pulse generator and transmitted by the wires connecting the generator and the contact organs The cables will then act as conductors for these pulses and transmit them further into the targets electrical system The pulse attacks can be done in repetitive sequences as long as the galvanic contact between the contact organs and the cables are upheld

The entire device as described above can be incorporated in an outer form This form can look as the outer structure depicted in figure 1 , namely, as a semi-arched structure where the contact organs and the firing organs are arranged approximately symmetric in the structure while the pulse generating organ is arranged inside the structure The outer structure need not be semi-arched, instead it could be spherical, semi-spherical, conical or be designed as a box or have another appropriate form