Warhead fragmentation effectiveness is determined by the number, mass, shape, and velocity of the warhead's fragments. By using a controlled fragmentation design, warhead fragmentation can generally be achieved quickly and in a cost effective manner. Exemplary controlled fragmentation techniques are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,491,694; 4,312,274; 4,745,864; 5,131,329; and 5,337,673. Further, U.S. Pat. No. 3,877,376 issued Apr. 15, 1975 to Vahey Kupelian, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,501 issued May 14, 1985 to Held et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,544,589 issued Aug. 13, 1996 to Manfred Held; U.S. Pat. No. 3,799,054 to Edward W. La Rocca, are also all hereby incorporated by reference herein as though fully set forth at length.
Conventional designs in general use “cutter” liners that form fragments by generating a complex pattern of high-velocity “penetrators” for fragmenting the shell. Although these conventional fragmentation designs have proven to be useful, it would be desirable to present additional functional, cost and safety improvements that minimize the warhead weight, reduce manufacture expenses, and advance current United States Insensitive Munition (IM) requirements.
What is needed in this art and heretofore unavailable is an explosive fragmentation ammunition with target adaptable fragmentation output and, more particularly, to a warhead having means for selectively controlling the size (and shapes) of fragments produced. According to an embodiment of this invention, controlling the size of fragments is accomplished through a pattern of grids of high electrical resistance metal wires comprising two or more separate electric circuits, each corresponding to the fragment sizes (and shapes) desired.