UNCLASSIFIED
Distribution Statement A: Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
UNCLASSIFIED
2018 Insensitive Munition and Energetic Materials Technology Symposium
Portland, OR, 23-26 April 2018
Fragment Impact Testing of the XM25
Nausheen Al-Shehab
*
, Kevin Miers
U.S. Army RDECOM-ARDEC, Picatinny Arsenal, NJ 07806-5000
Nausheen Al-Shehab, E-mail: nausheen.m.alshehab.civ@mail.mil
The developmental XM25 Counter Defilade Target Engagement (CDTE) is
a shoulder-fired weapon designed to provide U.S. Soldiers with the capability of
engaging targets under cover. Current cartridges include the XM1083 High
Explosive Airburst (HEAB) and XM1081 Target Practice (TP) rounds. Baseline
IM tests were conducted against the packaged configuration and showed that
HEAB cartridges react violently when subjected to fragment impact (FI). This is
consistent with modeling predictions that the first impacted round will likely react
violently as the induced shock strength for small caliber items is particularly
sensitive to fragment attitude and hit location error even though the fragment likely
breaks up on perforation. Continuum modeling also suggest significant mechanical
insult to adjacent rounds should only a single round detonate, both in FI and
Sympathetic Reaction (SR) scenarios. This is consistent with engineering level SR
tests performed for packaged rounds which indicate violent reactions for adjacent
and diagonally adjacent acceptor rounds. Several FI mitigation strategies are
discussed and modeled to predict their effectiveness. FI testing of the TP cartridges
(inert warhead with live propellant) were conducted to determine how much of the
reaction was due to the propulsion vice how much was the result of the warhead.
While these responses were generally benign, in all these tests the lid was
repeatedly thrown a significant distance from the initial test location. FI tests
against containers with inert simulants were conducted to determine how far debris
was expected to be thrown as a function of fragment momentum alone. These
results were compared with those determined via high-rate continuum modeling. It
was determined, both experimentally and computationally, that the propellant alone
was sufficient to project hazardous debris.
