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Kinetic Weapons rely upon ultra high velocity to create an
overwhelming, penetrating attack. The attack creates a shock that shatters and obliterates
portions or all of the target. There are two classes of actual
penetrators, the Kinetic Energy Penetrator (KEP) which travels at
speeds over Mach 6, and the Hydrodynamic Penetrator (HP) which travels
near orbital speeds at Mach 25.
The Kinetic weapons research is divided into two basic areas:
Kinetic weapons rely upon speed and hardness to deliver their destructive punch.
Anti-Tank weapons inventories carry kinetic weapons today, typically launched from a box launcher on a smaller, highly mobile and lightly armored vehicle or a close air support (CAS) aircraft -- for instance the Air Force's A-10.
These weapons accelerated the hardened projective to speeds in excess of Mach 2 (typically Mach 5) and rely upon the simple laws of physics to destroy their target. For instance, a depleted uranium or tungsten round entering any form of steel at Mach 5 will overcome its tensile resistance, pushing through a number of feet or armor as if the armor were built of butter. Once inside the armor, the projectile, which has most likely deformed, is still highly kinetic, that is it is moving extremely fast and is extremely hot. The concussion wavefront of the "penetrator" combined with the heat gained in penetration effectively incinerates objects within the confines inside the armor that has been pierced. If there is ammunition nearby it is expected to spontaneously explode, human operators are killed by concussive shock wave and the incredible heat.
Chemical Rocket Driven Weapons
Using traditional missile technology, the CRDW category uses high speed
rocket
motors to accelerate the projectile mass to high speeds (Mach 6+).
These projectiles can simply be very hard "dumb" ballistic rounds
(dense balls ejected in the path of the space target), or hardened
rounds
with some sort of precision guidance and steering (as in ballistic
missile interceptors or anti-tank weapons that contains a depleted
uranium rod).
The current National Missile Defense
system is beign developed to use hardened inert warhead chemical rocket driven KEP
interceptors as its primary mid-course interceptor (post burn attack,
prior to ballistic missiles returning through the atmosphere).
Electromagnetic Driven Weapons (Rail Guns)
The newest class of weapons under development are an offshoot of thinking during the Reagan Administration. Initially intended for operation in space, the rail gun is a relatively simple concept based upon principles many beginning science classes could understand.
The rail gun uses a high precision milled armature, perhaps coated with teflon (or a liquid teflon like fluid) as a guide to a extremely hard metal projectile. The projectile is typically housed in a "sabot" like structure that splits apart and sheds itself from the projectile after exiting the "barrel" of the rail gun.
The rail gun uses a highly charged electromagnetic armature to provide initial thrust to the projectile by repelling it away and then accelerating the projectile in its sabot at intervals along the rail. Each pulse adds more than sufficient energy to accelerate the projectile and sabot. The target velocity is near 2500 kilometers per second or approximately 5100 MPH.
At this speed the projectile superheats. Similar to the Chemical Rocket Driven Weapons (CRDW), the projectile has exceeded the ability of steel or other armor and passes thorugh it like buter. Once inside the armor protected area, the projectile delivers a shock wave and a heat wave, destroying the interior or armor protected vehicles or buildings.
One of the advantages of the rail gun is that its speed makes it hard to counter and it does not require the bulk of CRDW rounds, and is both lighter and more accurate that the chemical based versions. The rail gun is easier to maintain and its rounds are basically inert, making it safer to store its ammunition.
Current rail gun experimentation is being conducted at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, and consists of a 5KV armature and drives a 10 pound needle shape about 1 foot and half long and about 1.5 inches in diameter.
