Of course, there are inevitable and unavoidable barriers, say, immutable laws of physics, which limit the possibilities of development. It may turn out that in certain areas improvement is generally impossible, since the technology has already reached its optimal level of development.
Tank ammunition belongs to an area where, for the untrained eye, this state should already be achieved. The challenge, in essence, is to deliver an effective combat load to the target exactly at the moment when it is needed. An increase in accuracy in the future will most likely come from changing the cannon, not the projectile. If the new materials can offer better armor penetration, they will of course be reviewed, tested and then put into production. Different combat equipment of projectiles, creating different effects, will be developed and deployed depending on the need and further, but the basics of course will remain the same.
The scale of innovation
However, in practice, there is considerable room for innovation, even in such a narrow field as tank ammunition. Changing needs are determined by changing requirements, and although the development of projectiles is more likely not a cause, but a reaction to the development of other technologies, the need for their improvement is urgently needed.
Although it may take some time until revolutionary changes can reach the front lines, some of them can only happen with the parallel development of new weapon technologies, the outlines of a new generation of large-caliber projectiles are already quite clearly emerging.
“The US government has done a very good job over the past 40 years keeping the tank as a high-priority combat platform that should have significant superiority over similar platforms of a potential adversary,” said Craig Aakhus of Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems, adding that because of this they should invest a lot in the development of their line of tank ammunition.
The development of ammunition for American tanks seems to consist of a long chain of subtle changes that gradually expanded their capabilities without the need for a large transformation of the entire delivery system of damaging factors. "When we first put the 120mm system on the Abrams tank in the mid-80s, we transferred some German shells from Germany to the United States and then immediately started improving them."
“In the late 1980s, the US government launched a major initiative to close the technology gap. After conducting comprehensive tests, they realized that these shells did not fully meet all the requirements of the army. In this regard, in the late 80s - early 90s, an increased emphasis was placed on their improvement, while several new types of shells with different effects were developed."
“For example, a remote fuse was also added to the 830A1 HEAT shell with a lining,” said Aakhus. - At that time, of course, the emphasis was on fighting helicopters. Then the army paid special attention to armored threats and made a sharp leap in the early 90s in kinetic projectiles, and we continue this work today."
“In general, the army adopts a new projectile every 8-10 years, it invests heavily in technology and materials in order to ensure that our weapons systems are consistent with current threats. Obviously, we are still working with the same weapon system, but we have increased its service life by integrating new technologies into ammunition."
Aakhus pointed out that the initiative and determination of the American army plays an important role in the development of these developments.
“Threats are evolving and we must stay ahead of these threats. I believe the user community is doing a tremendous job of identifying these threats. Core needs are driven by the customer community, and we, as developers and suppliers, respond to them. We work hand in hand with them. By the time the requirements come out, we see the same trends in threats, so we identify threats in parallel and strive to meet those needs."
Aakhus pointed to the development of a new advanced versatile 105 mm projectile, which implemented this synchronized approach of industry and military customer.
“New threats are emerging, for example, anti-tank guided missile systems have become widespread, and it is necessary to fight against them. The industry responds by offering ammunition with improved warheads and smart fuses.”
Impact
In Europe, they are working on a more radical solution. A joint venture between British BAE Systems and French Nexter, CTA International (CTAI), has developed a completely new weapon system that uses an unconventional approach to projectile design. Telescopic ammunition is a projectile significantly or even completely "recessed" in the powder charge in the sleeve. This arrangement made it possible to significantly reduce the size and mass of the shot compared to conventional projectiles, and also made it possible to use a linkless ammunition supply. The system as a whole - a cannon with telescopic projectiles - promises several times greater impact than comparable systems, which they should replace. In addition, in comparison with a traditional cannon, the telescopic system, due to a more rational ammunition stowage, can accommodate four times as many projectiles on board.
Although the CTAI system has a relatively small 40mm caliber, it offers capabilities comparable to the larger caliber systems. CTAI says that the system is suitable not only for installation on vehicles of the BMP category, for example, the British Ajax and Warrior, on which it is already installed, but also for installation on main battle tanks.
The development of telescopic ammunition began quite a long time ago - the concept was proposed in the early 50s in the United States - but the complexity of the solution and the lack of the necessary technologies did not allow them to be put into mass production. “The idea of putting a projectile into a cartridge case has been an elusive but cherished goal for decades,” said Rory Chamberlain of CTAI. - The old triangle "mobility, combat stability and fire efficiency" has always been a problem in the case of a medium tank, because when trying to increase fire efficiency, the guns and systems became so heavy that this negatively affected mobility and, as a result, survivability. The telescopic system is the only solution as it has a smaller cannon and feeds. The entire system revolves around the ammunition, the main thing is to safely and reliably insert the projectile into the cartridge case, as a result of which we obtain its inherent high characteristics."
The main technical problem that CTAI had to solve was the sealing of the projectile. “Gas tightness has historically been one of the biggest challenges,” Chamberlain said.- In the old designs, you achieved tightness when the projectile moved along the rifling in the barrel. In our solution, the shell casing itself ensures tightness. It was difficult, but we were able to achieve it at CTAI, and perhaps this was the main driver of success."
After solving this problem, the rest of the development proceeded in a working order, without abnormal problems.
“It's not hard to crack a nut - you just have to know which tool to use and it gets easier. It is true that our projectile has more components than a simple standard ammunition, but when you actually go into the details and look at the solution, it turns out to be quite simple."
said Chamberlain.
“I would not say that to achieve this, we had to invest in crazy technology. These are the basic principles of production that have been developed over the years. Placing them in the right order, understanding the system and how it all works together is what CTAI was able to do."
Constructive challenges
The production of a new type of projectile requires similar skills and adherence to the same principles as for the production of standard ammunition, but, as Chamberlain explained, the operations in the production process - for example, adding a propellant to the body, or a process known as crimping, which in a conventional projectile consists in pressing in the sleeves, and in a telescopic projectile in pressing the front and rear covers, they are placed in a different order due to the peculiarities of each type. “These individual operations are very simple when you are making the projectiles, but maybe you are doing the operations in a different order,” he said. - Imagine that the last operation performed in a conventional ammunition is a projectile, then it is crimped and pressed into the sleeve. In the case of telescopic ammunition, the first thing to do is take the projectile, then it is placed in the sleeve. Further, the propellant is equipped inside, after which the crimp occurs. It just changes the order of operations, but the individual steps are the same as with traditional shells."
Redesigning the entire weapon system as a whole, compared to repeatedly gradually improving one of its components, certainly seemed to be a higher risk. Talking about the first successful firing tests of the system installed on the British armored vehicle Ajax in 2016, the leader of this project noted that "the complex problems that arise on the way to this should not be underestimated." However, he also noted "the transformational capabilities of the system aimed at winning." It seems that the benefits here could be significantly greater than would be the case with a program with less ambitious goals.
According to CTAI, its CT40 system will improve all three components: mobility, combat resistance and fire efficiency. Some of these improvements will be implemented either through the cannon, or through its supporting components, in particular the store.
The question is still controversial whether the version of the system integrated into the British vehicles will be as effective as the one installed on the French Jaguar reconnaissance armored vehicles, in which the fully complete CTAI system is integrated. The UK has chosen a different solution for its Ajax and Warrior platforms, they should have a common tower, in which the main contractor Lockheed Martin UK installs the gun along with equipment from other companies. The only indisputable fact is that none of these innovations would have been possible without the creation of a new type of projectile.
“We are replacing the 30mm round, which weighs 350 grams,” Chamberlain said. - Our new projectile weighs one kilogram, that is, the warhead is almost three times larger. All armies talk about the diameter of the projectile, but its combat equipment and armor penetration are important. People think that 30mm and 40mm shells are not very different, but in fact there is a big difference in terms of the warhead. In fact, it is four times more powerful."
“What is important to the crews when they fire? Hit the target. That's what telescopic technology is all about. The quantity is not necessary, it is not necessary that it is a 40-mm projectile, it is just that it is faster to have a greater impact on the target, hit it and return our guys home safe and sound."
Other claimed advantages of the system include the operator's ability to quickly switch between different types, reload and fire while driving. Taking into account the increased firepower offered by the more compact solution and the increased volume for the crew in the turret, we can talk about the multiplicative effect that this telescopic system provides.
“Before, when reloading, you had to stop somewhere and reload the cannon, now that time is in the past,” Chamberlain said. - You just can recharge while driving. The store is stationary, in our system it is very similar to a drawer, when you open a drawer, put a projectile in it, close a drawer, it reads the type of projectile and knows exactly where it is located in the store. If you need to select a specific type of ammunition, the magazine simply turns to the selected box. You can have several types in the store, all of which are in stock."
Changing type
To date, ammunition of seven different types is either manufactured and delivered to customers, or is being qualified: armor-piercing tracer with a stabilizing shank (feathered) with a detachable tray and tracer or BOPS; universal with tracer; universal with a head fuse with a tracer; universal air blast with tracer: kinetic air blasting; and two practical shells. The first, which has already entered the troops, received the designation TP-T (Target Practice - Tracer), while the second TP-RR (Target Practice - Reduced Range) with a reduced range is still in development. Chamberlain noted that the list is by no means exhaustive. “Telescopic technology can be applied to anything that can be inserted into a sleeve. We are not limited to our current types. We are looking at research on various projectiles that we would like to implement, but they are in the early stages of evaluating a preliminary technical assessment."
The ability to quickly switch from one type to another is a key element in the enhancement of the capabilities that the telescopic concept promises. With the beginning of the arrival of new weapons in their arsenals, customers began to develop the principles of its combat use, while promising types of ammunition are being developed in parallel, which will increase the effectiveness of the system.
“Unlike the 30mm Rarden cannon on the British Warrior infantry fighting vehicles, which can only fire in clips of three rounds (two in the magazine, that is, a maximum of 6 rounds) and which does not have the ability to change the type of projectile, with the CT40 you can easily you can change the type so that it allows you to have different types of queues and different effects. Your main task is how to use different types of shells correctly and get the best impact on the targets. " Without going into details, Chamberlain hinted that in 2020 the company will be able to reveal its plans and other types of ammunition "that our customers want to see."
Weight reduction is the primary goal of all ammunition programs and is another area that ammunition manufacturers can take to improve their products. Aakhus explained that his company's American customer helped improve the fire efficiency of ammunition without increasing their mass, actively studying the potential of various materials and making suggestions for their use.
“In the field of kinetic energy ammunition, the US has invested a lot in order to obtain less parasitic mass and put more energy into the core,” he explained. - For example, the use of composite materials in the manufacture of a pallet will allow to deliver more energy to the target and thereby make a technological breakthrough. The pallet is really just a part with a parasitic mass, the task of which is to guide the projectile through the barrel. If it could be eliminated, that would be great, the lighter you become, the better. Traditionally, aluminum pallets have been used, but we have composite technologies that came from the aerospace industry, so we have every opportunity to reduce this parasitic mass as much as possible.”
“The US military has invested heavily in unique core technologies,” Aakhus added. - In addition, new advanced fuses appear in high-explosive ammunition for various purposes. The United States and other countries are increasingly using the data transmission channel to the projectile, that is, now, depending on the target at which we are firing, we can give the projectile additional information to make it more legible. We are integrating smart fuses into high-explosive fragmentation projectiles, which were previously equipped only with head fuses, while simultaneously increasing the level of safety due to insensitive substances, electromagnetic compatibility and other technologies.
Cost issues
Increasing the complexity of projectiles through the introduction of electronic components, as well as investments in new materials aimed at reducing mass, inevitably entails an increase in the cost of each projectile. “Obviously, the more technologies you implement, the more expensive your products become,” Aakhus said. - Realizing this, in parallel, we developed training projectiles that copy combat projectiles in ballistics, the emphasis here was on reducing complexity and cost. We have invested in technology to reduce the cost of the training shots we shoot in large numbers every year, make them affordable and keep our crews trained. At the same time, it is clear that war shells stored in arsenals and which can only be used in certain operations will always be somewhat more expensive."
According to him, the ratio of purchased and fired training and combat shells is about 10: 1, that is, an emphasis on the use of training shells will give a significant overall reduction in the cost of combat training. Obviously, inert projectiles cost less than explosive projectiles, and more expensive components such as advanced fuses are often not included in training ammunition.
Northrop Grumman also uses inexpensive propellants in its training projectiles, conserving the more expensive and highest-performing propellants for live ammunition.
Chamberlain said CTAI's development of the TP-RR practical tool will help its customers to save even more money as well as expand training opportunities.
“Up to a certain range, this projectile coincides in ballistics with a live projectile, and then begins to decline sharply. This reduces the safe removal zone, that is, it allows firing at a larger number of ranges, which simplifies combat training for those armies whose training ranges are limited in area. We believe that when the TP-RR projectile passes qualification, it will become the next generation of practical projectile because of the advantages it provides, as well as the low cost."
Despite the fact that the production of telescopic shells is very similar to the production of traditional ammunition, the cost of their manufacture is much higher today. Cost has been one of the reasons why earlier attempts at telescopic systems have failed. According to Chamberlain, any assessment of capabilities should focus not on the cost of each individual projectile, but on how best to use the entire system to obtain the desired impact.
“How many shells do you need to hit the target? As for the BOPS, there are only two options - either you break through the armor or you don't. An unsuccessful attempt to penetrate the armor allows the enemy to return fire and this is not a situation that anyone wants to be in. I would like to be confident in my ammunition. We conducted our own analysis of the potential for hitting a target, the British Department of Defense made its own analysis, the French - its own, which showed that we have a more effective and cheaper solution. And this is a fact."
