PARIKRAMA
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Post Type:
Maxi
Subject:
Conventional Ammunition
Objective:
The idea behind this thread is to provide introductory details with an overview on ammunition - conventional types.
Introduction:
The thread is divided into 6 major headings
Note: IED or Improvised Explosive Device
An improvised explosive device (IED) is a bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action. It may be constructed of conventional military explosives, such as an artillery round, attached to a detonating mechanism. IEDs are commonly used as roadside bombs.
Source : Improvised explosive device - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1. ARTILLERY
Risk of Theft = Moderate
Use in IEDs = Yes
1.2 Field artillery
Risk of Theft = Moderate
Use in IEDs = Yes
1.3 Tank and anti-tank guns
Risk of Theft = Moderate
Use in IEDs = Yes
1.4 Naval and coastal defence guns
Risk of Theft = Moderate
Use in IEDs = Yes
1.5 Free-flight rockets or FFR
Risk of Theft = Moderate
Use in IEDs = Yes
2. SMALL ARMS, LIGHT WEAPONS and CANON AMMUNITION
Risk of Theft = High
Use in IEDs = No
2.2 Cannon ammunition
Risk of Theft = Moderate
Use in IEDs = No
2.3 Projected grenades and hand grenades
Risk of Theft = High
Use in IEDs = Yes
2.4 Unguided light weapons ammunition
Risk of Theft = High
Use in IEDs = Yes
2.5 Guided light weapons ammunition
Risk of Theft = High
Use in IEDs = No (Bcz mostly they are Ready To Fire types)
3. MINES
Risk of Theft = High
Use in IEDs = Yes
4. PYROTECHNICS
Risk of Theft = Low
Use in IEDs = No
5. EXPLOSIVES
Risk of Theft = High
Use in IEDs = Yes and very High
6. GUIDED MISSILES
Risk of Theft = Low
Use in IEDs = No as its too valuable for other uses
Source
Bevan, James and Stéphanie Pézard. 2006. ‘Basic Characteristics of Ammunition: From Handguns
to MANPADS.
Ness, Leland and Anthony Williams. 2006. Jane’s Ammunition Handbook 2006–2007
Maxi
Subject:
Conventional Ammunition
Objective:
The idea behind this thread is to provide introductory details with an overview on ammunition - conventional types.
Introduction:
The thread is divided into 6 major headings
- Artillery
- Small arms, light weapons and canon ammunition
- Mines
- Pyrotechnics
- Explosives
- Guided Missiles
Note: IED or Improvised Explosive Device
An improvised explosive device (IED) is a bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action. It may be constructed of conventional military explosives, such as an artillery round, attached to a detonating mechanism. IEDs are commonly used as roadside bombs.
Source : Improvised explosive device - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1. ARTILLERY
- Artillery includes weapons and ammunition that are in the range of 75 mm calibre and above (some mortars also fall within this calibre range, and although not strictly classified as artillery, have been included here for convenience).
- Artillery is designed to deliver primarily indirect fire and includes the types discussed below.
- Because artillery ammunition is large in calibre, it often contains significant amounts of explosive and incendiary (designed to cause fires) material, which may become unstable when inadequately managed or mishandled.
- Mortar ‘bombs’ are loaded with various explosive and non-explosive substances, including high explosive (HE), HE fragmentary, HE armour-piercing, and smoke and illuminating material
- They range considerably in weight from under 10 kg to 130 kg.
- Mortars under 100 mm in calibre are designated light weapons due to their portability
Risk of Theft = Moderate
Use in IEDs = Yes
1.2 Field artillery
- Field artillery ammunition is cartridge-based and manufactured in a range of formats to suit different applications.
- Major applications include: HE, HE fragmentary, and sub-munition-dispensing varieties for anti-personnel purposes; armour piercing rounds for field and mountain guns; and smoke and illuminating cartridges
- Ammunition designed for field artillery ranges in size from around 75 mm in calibre to close to 250 mm.
Risk of Theft = Moderate
Use in IEDs = Yes
1.3 Tank and anti-tank guns
- Tank and anti-tank gun ammunition is cartridge-based and primarily designed to defeat armoured vehicles.
- There are various types with various applications, including: HE anti-tank (HEAT), which utilize hydro-dynamic penetration; saboted rounds, which use kinetic energy derived from high velocity to penetrate armour; and a range of complementary types, such as smoke and illuminating cartridges.
- Calibres range from around 60 mm to 125 mm
- In non-specialist terms, hydro-dynamic penetration equates to a shaped explosive charge that, upon detonation, creates a high-velocity jet of molten metal (technically in a state of ‘superplasticity’) in order to penetrate solid armour.
- A sabot is support that is designed to carry a dart-shaped projectile along a rifled barrel.Upon leaving the barrel, the sabot falls away after having imparted momentum to the projectile.
Risk of Theft = Moderate
Use in IEDs = Yes
1.4 Naval and coastal defence guns
- Naval and coastal defence guns use cartridge-based ammunition that is designed to defeat either surface (ship) or airborne targets.
- Ammunition types include mechanically fused fragmentary warheads that are designed to explode in the air, and HE rounds or armour-piercing ammunition for anti-ship purposes.
- Naval and coastal defence ammunition ranges in calibre from around 75 mm to 130 mm
Risk of Theft = Moderate
Use in IEDs = Yes
1.5 Free-flight rockets or FFR
- FFRs are unguided and designed to be used for area denial purposes.
- Early types were fired in barrages to improve the likelihood of hitting targets, but later types use sophisticated guidance systems and can be fired singly with great accuracy.
- They consist of a solid-fuel rocket motor and a variety of different warheads for various applications.
- They include HE fragmentation warheads for anti-personnel roles; anti-tank warheads; cargo (sub-munitions) and mine-laying variants; warheads for mine-clearing; and incendiary and smoke varieties.
- FFRs come in various calibres, from 50 mm multiple-launch, area-denial ammunition to single-launch, mine-clearing rockets of over 400 mm
Risk of Theft = Moderate
Use in IEDs = Yes
2. SMALL ARMS, LIGHT WEAPONS and CANON AMMUNITION
- Small arms, light weapons, and cannon ammunition features a range of different ammunition types, from non-explosive cartridge-based ammunition to rocket-propelled HE projectiles.
- These varieties each pose different challenges for safe and secure stockpile management.
- Small calibre cartridge-based ammunition is used in firearms and machine guns,and ranges from the smallest cartridges to those of 20 mm calibre (usually lessthan 14.5 mm).
- It is composed of a bullet, propellant, and primer, sealed within a (usually metallic) cartridge
- Bullets are generally inert, and complete rounds of small calibre ammunition are designed to be durable and stable.
- In contrast to larger, explosive types of ammunition, they represent a minimal explosive or incendiary risk when poorly managed.
Risk of Theft = High
Use in IEDs = No
2.2 Cannon ammunition
- Cannon ammunition is cartridge-based and operates in the same way as ammunition designed for firearms.
- It is, however, larger (ranging from 20 mm to 57 mm) and often features armour-piercing, HE, and incendiary warheads, or it is a combinations of the three .
- The addition of explosive and incendiary warheads makes them potentially less stable than small arms ammunition when poorly managed.
Risk of Theft = Moderate
Use in IEDs = No
2.3 Projected grenades and hand grenades
- Projected grenades are explosive weapons that are designed to fire from a cartridge (similar to a firearm) or from the muzzle of a rifle (termed a rifle grenade).
- Hand grenades are designed to be thrown by hand, and without the aid of a delivery weapon.
- The two types of grenade come in various formats and are filled with a variety of explosive and incendiary charges, ranging from white phosphorous to HE fragmentation.
- Most hand grenades and projected grenades are designed to detonate on impact, although some spin-stabilized grenades (a variety of projected grenade) are designed to explode in the air when in proximity to a target (a process known as air bursting).
- White phosphorous grenades pose a particular incendiary risk when inadequately managed.
Risk of Theft = High
Use in IEDs = Yes
2.4 Unguided light weapons ammunition
- Unguided ammunition for use in light weapons varies considerably in type and application.
- Most types feature a two-stage, solid-fuel rocket motor and HE, HE fragmentation, or incendiary warhead.
- More recent developments include fuel-air ‘thermobaric’ warheads.
- Mortar bombs of 82 mm calibre and below may also be considered as unguided light weapons ammunition.
Risk of Theft = High
Use in IEDs = Yes
2.5 Guided light weapons ammunition
- Guided ammunition for light weapons includes missiles for use in anti-tank guided weapons (ATGWs) and man-portable air defence systems (MANPADS)
- These weapons all use two-stage, solid-fuel rocket motors and explosive warheads.
- Most anti-tank missiles employ HE warheads, which include shaped charges that are designed to defeat modern armour
- The two-stage warheads designed for use against reactive armour.
- MANPADS warheads are generally fragmentary. Both ATGW and MANPADS missiles are delicate pieces of equipment, which require careful handling.
- Because of their sophistication and capacity against modern military targets, they are politically sensitive, and controls on their transfer have received increasing attention in recent years.
Risk of Theft = High
Use in IEDs = No (Bcz mostly they are Ready To Fire types)
3. MINES
- Mines are usually defined as anti-personnel (AP), anti-vehicle (AV), or anti helicopter(AH).
- There are many different types of mines, which are designed for widely differing applications and employ different fuses.
- In many respects, they are harder to categorize than other conventional munitions.
- Anti Personnel or AP mines may be blast or fragmentation, ground laid, or scatterable, with mechanical, tripwire, or electronic fusing systems.
- The explosive weight is usually below 250 g, although there are exceptions.
- Anti Vehicle or AV mines may be pressure, tripwire, electronic, or sensor fused.
- They can be buried, surface laid, or off-route, and contain an explosive weight of up to 7.5 kg.
- Warhead options include blast, shaped charge (HEAT), ballistic disc self-forging fragment or explosively formed projectiles.
- Anti Helicopter or AH mines are relatively new, highly complex, and unlikely to be encountered in large numbers or unless there is an actual war scenario
- Whatever the type of mine, they all contain:
- A warhead;
- A fuse and/or sensor;
- A power source and
- A safety and arming unit.
Risk of Theft = High
Use in IEDs = Yes
4. PYROTECHNICS
- The range of pyrotechnic devices is vast, from safety matches and smoke grenades, through gas generators to explosive bolts
- It is not practical to list them all in this short overview.
- They are often defined by the desired effect, e.g.
- light;
- sound;
- heat;
- mechanical movement;
- decoy;
- cutting, etc.
- Pyrotechnic devices combine high reliabilty with very compact and efficient energy storage, essentially in the form of chemical energy that is converted via expanding hot gases into the desired effect.
- The controlled action of a pyrotechnic device (initiated by any of several means, including an electrical signal, optical signal, or mechanical impetus) makes possible a wide range of automated and/or remote mechanical actions, e.g. deployment of safety equipment and services (ejector seats), or precisely timed release sequences based shells.
Risk of Theft = Low
Use in IEDs = No
5. EXPLOSIVES
- Explosives may be categorized as primary high explosives, which are shock and flame-sensitive, and are used in detonators and initiators;
- or secondary high explosives, which are initiated by shock and are used in main fillings of other ammunition or as demolition charges.
- Modern military secondary high explosives have good long-term stability and are specifically formulated for the type of ammunition that they are to be used in (e.g. RDX/Wax for demolition charges, or RDX/TNT for main fillings).
- The chemical formula of an explosive should also be checked, as different nations often refer to the same type of explosive in different ways (e.g. RDX by NATO and Hexogen by former Warsaw Pact countries).
Risk of Theft = High
Use in IEDs = Yes and very High
6. GUIDED MISSILES
- Guided missiles come in a wide range of types, sizes, and functions.
- It ranges from
- shoulder-launched anti-tank (ATGMs)
- shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles (MANPADS),
- medium systems such as ATGWs
- large surface-to-surface guided systems such as the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) launched individually from an Multi Launch Rocket System (MLRS) platform.
- The smaller vehicle-portable varieties are considered under guided light weapons ammunition (see above).
- Guided missiles differ from Free Flight Rockets/ FFRs in that they have a guidance system and usually a much more sophisticated fusing system.
Risk of Theft = Low
Use in IEDs = No as its too valuable for other uses
Source
Bevan, James and Stéphanie Pézard. 2006. ‘Basic Characteristics of Ammunition: From Handguns
to MANPADS.
Ness, Leland and Anthony Williams. 2006. Jane’s Ammunition Handbook 2006–2007
