Kinetic energy weapon

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Relativistic kill vehicle
)
"Kinetic projectile" redirects here. Not to be confused with
Projectile kinematics
.
The Homing Overlay Experiment used a metal fan that was rolled up during launch and expanded during flight. The metal has five times as much destructive power as an explosive warhead of the same weight.

A kinetic energy weapon (also known as kinetic weapon, kinetic energy warhead, kinetic warhead, kinetic projectile, kinetic kill vehicle) is a

supersonic or even up to hypervelocity — and collide with their targets, converting its kinetic energy and relative impulse into destructive shock waves, heat and cavitation. In kinetic weapons with unpowered flight, the muzzle velocity or launch velocity often determines the effective range and potential damage
of the kinetic projectile.

Kinetic weapons are the oldest and most common ranged weapons used in

electromagnetically launched projectiles, such as railguns, coilguns and mass drivers. There are also concept weapons that are accelerated by gravity, as in the case of kinetic bombardment weapons designed for space warfare
.

The term hit-to-kill, or kinetic kill, is also used in the military aerospace field to describe kinetic energy weapons accelerated by a rocket engine. It has been used primarily in the anti-ballistic missile (ABM) and anti-satellite weapon (ASAT) fields, but some modern anti-aircraft missiles are also kinetic kill vehicles. Hit-to-kill systems are part of the wider class of kinetic projectiles, a class that has widespread use in the anti-tank field.

Basic concept

reentry vehicle (RV) from an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) during the terminal phase of the approach, the RV will be traveling at approximately 15,000 miles per hour (24,000 km/h) while the interceptor will be on the order of 7,000 miles per hour (11,000 km/h). Because the interceptor may not be approaching head-on, a lower bound on the relative velocity on the order of 16,000 miles per hour (26,000 km/h) can be assumed,[2]
or converting to SI units, approximately 7150 meters per second.

At that speed, every kilogram of the interceptor will have an energy of:

TNT has an explosive energy of about 4853 joules per gram,[3] or about 5 MJ per kilogram. That means the impact energy of the mass of the interceptor is over five times that of a detonating warhead of the same mass.[2]

It may seem like this makes a warhead superfluous, but a hit-to-kill system has to actually hit the target, which may be on the order of half a meter wide, while a conventional warhead releases numerous small fragments that increase the possibility of impact over a much larger area, albeit with a much smaller impact mass. This has led to alternative concepts that attempt to spread out the potential impact zone without explosives.

Homing Overlay Experiment of the 1980s used a fan-like metal disk.[5]

As the accuracy and speed of modern

solid fuel rocket motor to produce an interceptor missile that is much smaller overall,[6] as well as the RIM-161 Standard Missile 3, which is dedicated to the anti-missile role.[7]

Delivery

Some kinetic weapons for targeting objects in

Arrow missile or U.S. Patriot PAC-3
).

With regard to anti-missile weapons, the

Aegis BMDS), and THAAD do not (see Missile Defense Agency
).

A kinetic projectile can also be dropped from aircraft. This is applied by replacing the explosives of a regular bomb with a non-explosive material (e.g. concrete), for a precision hit with less

high explosive
bombs.

Advantages and disadvantages

The primary advantage kinetic energy weapons is that they minimize the launch mass of the weapon, as no weight has to be set aside for a separate warhead. Every part of the weapon, including the airframe, electronics and even the unburned maneuvering fuel contributes to the destruction of the target. Lowering the total mass of the vehicle offers advantages in terms of the required launch vehicle needed to reach the required performance, and also reduces the mass that needs to be accelerated during maneuvering.[2]

Another advantage of kinetic energy weapons is that any impact will almost certainly guarantee the destruction of the target. In contrast, a weapon using a

blast fragmentation warhead will produce a large cloud of small fragments that will not cause as much destruction on impact. Both will produce effects that can easily be seen at long distance using radar or infrared detectors, but such a signal will generally indicate complete destruction in the case of a kinetic energy weapons while the fragmentation case does not guarantee a "kill".[2]

No chemical munitions in the weapons also means that there is far less pollution of an area from a kinetic weapon.

The main disadvantage of the kinetic energy weapons is that they require extremely high accuracy in the guidance system, on the order of 0.5 metres (2 ft).[2]

See also

  • Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle – Interceptor part of the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense manufactured by Raytheon
  • Hellfire R9X
     – American air-to-surface missile
  • Kinetic bombardment – Orbit to planetary surface attack with inert projectiles
  • Terminal ballistics – Projectiles' behavior after reaching their targets

Explanatory notes

  1. ^ As opposed to the anti-tank field, where the velocity of the tank can be approximated as zero compared to that of the weapon.

References

  1. ISBN 978-81-203-3862-3
    .
  2. ^ a b c d e f GlobalSecurity.
  3. ISBN 978-0-471-18636-6
    .
  4. ISBN 9781603446914
    .
  5. ^ "Striking a Bullet with a Bullet: HOE". Lockheed Martin. 2020-10-01. Archived from the original on 2023-09-20. Retrieved 2023-10-21.
  6. ^ HeadOn.
  7. ^ "RIM-161 SM-3 (AEGIS Ballistic Missile Defense)". GlobalSecurity.org.

Bibliography

External links

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