Plural piece flechettes affording enhanced penetration

A flechette for use as a military projectile adapted to be fired at a high velocity from a warhead,

• said flechette comprising an elongated, generally rod-shaped body made of a tough metallic material and having front and rear portions,
• point means forming a blunt abruptly tapering penetrating point on said front portion of said body,
• a fin component securely mounted on said rear portion of said body,
• said fin component being made of a resilient, moldable, resinous plastic material and being molded separately from said body,
• said fin component comprising an axial sleeve member having an axial opening therein for receiving said rear portion of said body,
• said fin component having a plurality of guide fins molded in one piece with said axial sleeve member and projecting directly radially outwardly therefrom,
• and interlocking flange and groove elements on said sleeve member of said fin component and on said rear portion of said body for securely retaining said fin component on said body,
• said sleeve member being resilient and flexible to enable forced assembly of said sleeve member around said rear portion of said body with said flange and groove elements forced into interlocking engagement,
• said body and said sleeve member having respective extreme rear ends,
• said flange element being in the form of a single annular flange molded in one piece with said sleeve member and projecting inwardly on said sleeve member closely adjacent said extreme rear end thereof,
• said annular flange projecting radially inwardly into said axial opening in said sleeve member,
• said groove element being in the form of a single annular groove formed in said rear portion of said body closely adjacent said extreme rear end thereof for securely receiving said inwardly projecting annular flange on said sleeve member of said fin component.

A flechette for use as a military projectile, comprising

• an elongated, generally cylindrical rod-shaped body made of a tough metallic material and having front and rear end portions,
• fin means forming a plurality of guide fins on said rear end portion of said body,
• point means forming a blunt, abruptly tapering penetrating point on said front end portion of said body,
• and an elongated, generally conical nose piece made of a resilient resinous plastic material molded separately from said body and mounted on said blunt, abruptly tapering point on said front end portion of said body,
• said nose piece having an external, generally conical surface tapering substantially more gradually than said blunt, abruptly tapering penetrating point on said body for reducing air drag on the flechette,
• said nose piece having a rearwardly-facing recess formed with an internal, abruptly tapering surface complementary in shape relative to said abruptly tapering penetrating point for snugly fitting thereon,
• said blunt, abruptly tapering point having an external, annular, generally barb-shaped connecting flange thereon,
• said nose piece having an annular, generally barb-shaped internal connecting flange formed thereon in said recess for interlocking with said external connecting flange,
• said resinous plastic nose piece being resilient and flexible and adapted to be resiliently stretched to enable forced assembly of said nose piece on said abruptly tapering penetrating point with said internal connecting flange forced into interlocking engagement with said external connecting flange,
• said fin means comprising a fin component securely mounted on said rear end portion of said body,
• said fin component being made of a resilient, moldable, resinous plastic material and being molded separately from said body,
• said fin component comprising an axial sleeve member having an axial opening therein for receiving said rear end portion of said body,
• said guide fins being molded in one piece with said sleeve member,
• and interlocking annular flange and groove elements on said sleeve member and on said rear end portion of said body for securely retaining said fin component on said body,
• said sleeve member being resilient and flexible and adapted to be resiliently stretched to enable forced assembly of said sleeve member around said rear end portion of said body with said flange and groove elements forced into interlocking engagement.