Table of Contents
How does APHE shells work?
AP shells may contain a small explosive charge known as a “bursting charge”. Some smaller-caliber AP shells have an inert filling or an incendiary charge in place of the bursting charge. The primary shell types for modern anti-tank warfare are discarding-sabot kinetic energy penetrators, such as APDS.
How do mortar fuses work?
A typical mortar firing procedure is for a squad leader to select a target and call for one of the four fuze settings. A gunner sights the mortar onto the target and an ammunition bearer sets the fuze. An assistant gunner drops the shell into the tube upon a command to fire from the squad leader.
How do anti-tank rounds work?
At its nose, the round has an extended impact sensor. When the impact sensor collides with a target, it ignites an explosive, which melts surrounding copper. A shape charge liner concentrates the molten metal and hot gases into a narrow blast that cuts through the armor.
What is a shell fuse?
Shells. Nose mounted fuses were also developed in many guises and these enabled a shell to be exploded in the air, after a set amount of time had elapsed, before it had hit anything. This found its greatest use in WW1 when it was used to explode “Shrapnell Shells” above and in front of an advancing enemy.
How does a mortar round detonate?
A mortar is quite simple and easy to use. Most are muzzleloaders made up of a tube that a gunner drops a bomb into. When the bomb reaches the bottom of the tube it hits a firing pin. The mortar bomb’s weight is enough to set off the firing pin which ignites the round and fires it.
What is a pendepth fuse and how does it work?
Sometimes referred to as a “pendepth shell” because there are variations to APHE but all require a pendepth fuse to work properly. The concept here is to build enough kinetic damage and AP to pierce a certain amount of armour and then trigger a payload inside the target.
What is the difference between AP and APHE shells?
By the beginning of the Second World War, AP shells with a bursting charge were sometimes distinguished by the suffix “HE”; APHE was common, in anti-tank shells of 75mm caliber and larger, due to the similarity with the much larger naval armour piercing shells already in common use.
How hard is it to design a HESH shell?
HESH shells are typically not hard to design. Speed does not affect them beyond making the flight time to target longer which is bad for accuracy but does not affect the damage of the shell. HESH shells explode on contact without inertial fuses and deal a small amount of thump damage like hollow points.
What is the effect of shattered shot on armor penetration?
The shattered shot lowered penetration, or resulted in total penetration failure; for armor-piercing high-explosive ( APHE) projectiles, this could result in premature detonation of the HE filling.