Fuse assembly for military projectile

A fuse assembly for use in a projectile such as a mortar shell or the like containing a main explosive charge, said assembly comprising body means having a front nose section and a rear section adapted to be connected to a projectile, means releasably connecting said nose and rear sections together, cylindrical chamber means formed within said rear section adapted to house a blowback charge means, striker means movably mounted within said nose section in substantial axial alignment with said chamber means, stop means mounted within said body means for movement fron a safe unarmed position in which it prevents said striker means from causing detonation of said blowback charge means to an armed position in response to a predetermined inertial force following propulsion wherein it permits said striker means to cause detonation of said blowback charge means, said rear section having means for containing a booster charge operatively associated with said chamber means, whereby upon impact of said nose section with a target said striker means causes detonation of the blowback charge means to release said rear section from said nose section and throw the rear section and projectile back up into the air, the booster charge being ignited by the blowback charge means and in turn detonating the main explosive charge in the projectile to produce a near surface burst.

In combination with a projectile containing a main explosive charge, a self-contained fuse assembly comprising body means having a front nose section and a rear section connected to said projectile, means releasably connecting said nose and rear sections together, chamber means formed withi said body means, blowback charge means contained within said chamber means, detonating means mounted in said nose section in operative association with said blowback charge means, stop means mounted within said body means for movement from a safe unarmed position in which it prevents said detonating means from causing detonation of said blowback charge means to an armed position following propulsion of said projectile wherein it permits said detonating means to cause detonation of said blowback charge means, whereby upon impact of said nose section with a target said detonating means causes detonation of said blowback charge means to release said rear section from said nose section and throw said rear section and said projectile back up into the air to produce a near surface burst of said projectile.