Design and Testing of a Thermobaric Piercing Projectile for 73 mm Recoilless Canon

Digital Object Identifier 10.32754/JMT.2020.2.04 25 1Abstract —Urban area combat theaters require the use of portable weapons capable to neutralize targets inside buildings or light armored improvised vehicles. This work presents the design and testing of piercing ammunition for 73 mm recoilless canon with fragmentation and thermobaric effect. The advantages relative to its intended use are represented by its capability to pierce reinforced concrete and light armored targets, the fragmentation and thermobaric explosive delayed effect, capable to neutralize both soft targets and structures, and the reduced mass and dimensions of the armament system intended to be used. The warhead is composed of a piercing projectile with thin wall in order to accommodate an explosive charge with thermobaric effect, initiated by a bottom fuse. The warhead is coupled with a rocket motor in order to augment the initial velocity of the projectile for the maximization of the piercing capability. The paper presents the process of forging and machining of the warhead shell as well as the numerical simulation regarding the terminal ballistics of the ammunition, which was validated trough live fire experiments.