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US 12,092,434 B1Granted
Asymmetric explosive reactive armor (ERA)
AssigneeRaytheon Company
InventorCoulton T. Sadler
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AssigneeRaytheon Company
InventorCoulton T. Sadler
Estimating the term…
An asymmetric ERA box improves the disruption of a shape-charge jet for a high-explosive projectile for a given mass requirement and stand-off distance. Mass is asymmetrically redistributed from the outer plate to the rear plate in the form of increased thickness of the rear plate. This is offset by forming the outer plate of a low-density material that provides an impedance mismatch sufficient to attenuate the shockwave of low velocity projectiles (e.g., 50 caliber bullets) so that they embed in but do not detonate the explosive. The outer plate provides negligible disruption of the shape-charge jet with substantially all the disruption being provided by the thicker high density rear plate. Placement of substantially all the mass toward the front of the shape-charge jet improves overall performance of the ERA. This asymmetric configuration provides the same performance as known symmetric ERA configurations against kinetic-energy projectiles as the total mass in the outer and rear plates remains essentially the same.
Asymmetric Explosive Reactive Armor (ERA) for protecting residual armor surfaces from projectiles, comprising an explosive layer sandwiched between an impedance mismatch outer plate and a rear plate, wherein the impedance mismatch outer plate is formed of material having a density ρo of less than 2 g/cm3 and the rear plate is formed from a material having a density ρr of at least 4.5 g/cm3, wherein the impedance mismatch outer plate and rear plate provide less than 10% and greater than 60%, respectively, of the areal density of the asymmetric ERA.
Asymmetric Explosive Reactive Armor (ERA) for protecting residual armor surfaces from projectiles, comprising an explosive layer sandwiched between an impedance mismatch outer plate and a rear plate and a mounting bracket to hold the rear plate at a stand-off distance from the residual armor surface, wherein the impedance mismatch outer plate is formed of material having a density ρo of less than 2 gm/cm3 and a bulk sound speed Co of less than 3 km/s and the rear plate is formed from a material having a density ρr of at least 4.5 gm/cm3 and a yield strength σr of at least 500 MPa, wherein a ratio of an areal density of the rear plate to the outer plate is at least 6:1, wherein the stand-off distance is between 135% and 285% of the thickness of the rear plate.
Asymmetric Explosive Reactive Armor (ERA) for protecting residual armor surfaces from projectiles, comprising an explosive layer sandwiched between an impedance mismatch outer plate and a rear plate and a mounting bracket to hold the rear plate at a stand-off distance from the residual armor surface, wherein the impedance mismatch outer plate is formed of material having a density ρo of less than 2 gm/cm3 and the rear plate is formed from a material having a density ρr of at least 4.5 gm/cm3, wherein the impedance mismatch outer plate attenuates a shockwave of incident projectiles traveling at less than 1,000 m/s that pass through the impedance mismatch outer plate and embed in without detonating the explosive layer, wherein shape charge jets traveling in excess of 2,000 m/s pass through the impedance mismatch outer plate with minimal disruption of the shape charge jet detonating the explosive layer driving the rear plate toward the residual armor to disrupt the shape charge jet as it passes through the mass of the rear plate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.