GB2200730A - Explosive mine - Google Patents

Abstract

A mine comprises a projectile having housed inside the body, an explosive charge 13 which provides a directional explosive effect, upon detonation by a fuze 15, and exploder 17 toward the rear end of the body. The projectile may be gun- or mortar-launched, or launched by free fall from aircraft and may have a flattened or frangible nose 9 of plastics or alloy to reduce the speed of the projectile on entering the ground. <IMAGE>

Description

EXPLOSIVE MINES The present invention relates to explosive mines.

Conventional land mines comprise a generally flat body incorporating an explosive charge which is detonated by the pressure exerted by an object such as a target vehicle, e.g. a tank or other military vehicle, when present on the ground above the mine. They are usually laid in the ground either by hand or by a plough usually towed behind an armoured personnel carrier. In general, conventional land mines can be detected and cleared relatively easily.

According to the present invention a mine comprises a projectile having a body comprising a front end and a rear end and, housed inside the body, an explosive charge of a kind which provides a directional explosive effect, the charge being arranged so as to provide its explosive effect, upon detonation, toward the rear end of the body.

The said charge may be a shaped charge arranged to face the rear end of the body although it could also be another kind of charge having a directional effect, e.g. a known so-called Misznay Schardin plate.

The projectile may be a gun or mortar-fired projectile although it could also be a projectile launched by free fall from an aircraft, e.g. helicopter, or a cluster bomb.

The front and rear ends of the projectile are the front-facing ad rearward facing ends respectively of the projectile when in flight.

For gun or mortar-fired projectiles the rear end of the projectile body is the end at which the firing forces are applied when the projectile is fired from the gun or mortar.

The projectile may be a mortar-fired projectile whose rear end incorporates a fin tail for flight stability.

Projectiles providing mines embodying the present invention may be launched, e.g. fired to a land target area to penetrate the ground there and to serve as land mines which will explode upon the presence of an object in the region above the ground where the mine is located.

The projectile comprising the mine according to the present invention may incorporate a sensor or fuze responsive to the presence of such an object, e.g. a tank or other military vehicle, which will serve to activate a detonator to detonate the charge. Fuzes which operate in this way are known. Such fuzes may for example incorporate a delay mechanism which allows the fuze to be activated only after a period of time substantially greater than the projectile trajectory time.

Alternatively, the fuze may be operated such that if no detonation of the explosive charge is caused within a pre-determined period of time the fuze is pre-set to detonate the charge after that period to enable the land to be automatically cleared of the mine after that period. Typical time settings for automatic clearance range from several hours to several days, especially 24 hours.

The sensor or fuze may be located in front of the shaped charge.

Compared with conventional land mines, mines according to the present invention possess the advantages that they are simpler to lay, cannot be detected or cleared by conventional equipment and can be designed to be immune to the presence of certain "non-target" objects, e.g. agricultural rollers and ploughs.

The projectile comprising the mine according to th-e present invention may incorporate a shape or construction providing braking means for reducing the speed of the projectile when it enters the ground. Examples of such braking means include a flattened nose or front end, a frangible nose or front end, e.g. made of plastics or alloy material which crushes on impact with the ground. A further example, comprising spring assisted side arms is described in a copending UK patent application of even date by the present applicants.

As mentioned above, the projectile according to the invention may incorporate an explosive shaped charge.

Explosive shaped charges are well known to those skilled '4 in the design of explosive warheads. They comprise a charge of high explosive material such as a mixture of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) and cyclotrimethylene trinitramine (RDX) having a shaped cavity at one end provided to focus the heat of its explosion at that end.

The cavity may be hollow or alternatively filled with an inert material. Usually, such cavities are hollow and generally conical in shape and are lined with a thin, e.g.

metallic lining, e.g. containing copper. In general, any of the explosive shaped charges known to those skilled in the art may be employed as the said explosive charge in the mine according to the present invention provided that the- shaped cavity is arranged to face the rear end of the projectile so that the heat of explosion is focused toward that end.

The body may be made of metal, e.g. steel or a known high strength aluminium alloy.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing, Figure 1, which is a cross-sectional side elevation of a projectile which serves as a land mine when planted in the ground following firing from a mortar.

The projectile shown in Figure 1 is an 81mm mortar launched projectile comprising a body 1 and a tail unit 3. The tail unit 3 is attached to the body 1 by a screw thread joint 2 and is made of extruded aluminium alloy.

It consists of a central spine 5 on which known augmenting charges (not shown) may be located and a fin tail 7. The body 1 comprises a front end or nose 9, a central portion 10 and a rear end 11 in which the spine 5 of the fin tail 7 is attached. A shaped charge 13 is housed inside the central portion 14. The shaped charge 13 faces the rear end 11 and comprises a charge of a mixture of 40% by weight TNT and 60% by weight of RDX having a conical copper lined cavity 14 formed at its rear facing end. A fuze 15 located inside the nose 9 is arranged upon suitable detection of an object above the ground (not shown) to ignite an exploder 17 which in turn detonates the shaped charge 13 causing the explosive effect of the shaped charge 13 to be focused through the rear end 11 and the tail unit 3.

The nose 9 is made of a plastics material to assist reduction of the speed of the projectile when it enters the ground in the target area. The remainder of the body may be made of steel or a lightweight high strength alloy, e.g. aluminium.

Claims (5)

CLAIMS:

1. A mine comprising a projectile having a body comprising a front end and a rear end and, housed inside the body, an explosive charge of a kind which provides a directional explosive effect, the charge being arranged so as to provide its explosive effect, upon detonation toward the rear end of the body.

2. A mine as claimed in claim 1 and wherein the said charge is a shaped charge.

3. A mine as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 and wherein the mine comprises a fin stabilised mortar-fired projectile.

4. A mine as claimed in any one of the preceding claims and including a sensor or fuze responsive to the presence of an object which sensor or fuze is arranged to activate a detonator arranged to detonate, when activated, the charge.

5. A mine as claimed in any one of the preceding claims and which incorporates braking means for reducing the speed of the projectile when it enters the ground.