Damage Radius Study of Gimbaled Forward-Firing Warhead to Tactical Ballistic Missile

Abstract

Gimbaled forward-firing warhead (GFFW) is one of the most efficient types for killing enhancement that exist today. This is because almost all the fragments of the warhead are deployed to the targets direction. Static explosion experiment was performed to investigate the spatial distribution of the spray pattern as well as its deployment velocity. The cone angle (θs) of fragments bundle at static conditions is 15°, and fragments in the mesial area is dense than that in the marginal area. The average velocity of the fragment in mesial area is 1712m/s, and that in marginal area is 1408m/s. In conjunction with deployment experiments, damage radius study is conducted with the basic criterion that one fragment must hit target payload at least. Damage radius at the dynamic conditions is 150m~165m, which is more farther than conventional uniform warhead.