Artillery shell

An artillery shell (also artillery shell called) is an ammunition of artillery and its main active agent.

General

While with cartridge ammunition ( rifle , tank ) detonators (if necessary), projectile , propellant charge and propellant charge igniter are present together, these are separated in artillery and are only brought together shortly before the shot. This makes handling less easy, but increases flexibility. By choosing the type and quantity of propellant charge (in addition to the tube elevation), the firing range and, by choosing the fuse, the effect in the target (air, impact, earth detonation) can be influenced.

Artillery shells basically follow a trajectory that corresponds to the laws of ballistics . With course correction fuses, artillery shells can be guided in the flight phase with GPS support , which increases accuracy, reduces the amount of ammunition required and helps to avoid collateral damage .

species

Different artillery shells can be used depending on the target:

• historical:
  • Cannonball , mostly a solid iron bullet
  • Chains and balls connected by chains (against the rigging of sailing ships)
  • Grape-shot , a kind of shotgun load
  • Shrapnel , a bullet-filled projectile that is ejected in front of the target by a propellant charge of black powder behind it. Used against humans and animals. In use until around 1916 , forerunner of a fragmentation explosive
  • Standard bullet (in Germany), a hybrid of shrapnel and explosive bullet
  • Carcass (bullet) , a cage made of strip steel, filled with glowing coals ( incendiary bullet ).
• Explosive projectile, works by explosive and fragmentation effects; Depending on the fuse, the projectile can be detonated above the target, at the moment of impact or by means of a delay after penetrating the target. If the impact angle is low and the ground is hard, impact fuses (AZmV) set to "delay" can also cause ricochets .
• Armor-piercing projectile , originally as a solid bullet , today has a solid core with a soft tip for penetrating armor. Armor-piercing or explosive projectiles are also used to fight armored vehicles directly in exceptional cases (direct aiming). Field howitzers and self-propelled howitzers usually have a separate anti-tank telescopic sight: the target is destroyed by a direct hit.
• Cargo floors :
  • Bomb shells , ejects small shaped charge explosive devices over the target, which - striking from above - also penetrate light armor. Falling behind cover or in trenches, they work against soft targets similar to hand grenades. They are subject to the Convention on Cluster Munitions .
  • SMArt ammunition (search fuse ammunition, artillery) is used to target individual, armored vehicles. One storey contains two sub-storeys that act autonomously and can fight separate targets. One problem, however, is that
    • the ballistics can only be precisely determined until the first submunition is ejected,
    • the ejection point of the second submunition cannot be precisely determined,
    • the wind direction and wind speed at the destination (possibly> 30 km away) must be known exactly. This data can be added to the "target report" (see also artillery, data, location and deployment computer network - ADLER) or calculated using a weather model (e.g. "WeModArt" of the Bundeswehr) and
    • After the submunition has been ejected, the targets must be in the “footprint”, which becomes smaller and smaller (radius approx. 150 meters) as the projectile hanging on a kind of parachute sinks.
  • STRIX self-targeting ammunition 12 cm solid Mw
• Artillery shells with weapons of mass destruction:
  • Nuclear projectile , e.g. B. W9 (nuclear weapon) . During the Cold War, the Bundeswehr set up units or sub-units (special artillery trains) that could transport nuclear weapons of the US armed forces as part of nuclear participation and fire them using (armored) howitzers (155 mm and 203 mm). However, the release always remained under US sovereignty.
  • Artillery projectiles with biological warfare agents : During the Cold War, projectiles were also developed on both sides that contained poisonous bait or bait contaminated with pathogens in order to infect the population via the detour of animals or farm animals.
  • Artillery shells with chemical warfare agents
• Fog projectiles can (depending on the fog used) not only deprive the opponent of the optical view and obscure movements, but also impair or take away the view through vision intensifiers (thermal image, etc.).
• Luminous projectiles are used to illuminate the battlefield. Since technical support devices such as residual light amplifiers etc. are increasingly on the advance, this floor could sooner or later be taken out of use. In foreign missions of the Bundeswehr , flares are used for the show of force .
• Special ammunition containing, for example, leaflets .
• Drill and practice bullets exist for training purposes. Exercise bullets (Switzerland: manipulation ammunition) are only used for training on the device (simulate the attachment process), with the new self-propelled howitzer 2000 , shooting can be simulated in the simulator and the bullet is only pushed through the barrel with compressed air and then falls into a catching device. Practice bullets (Switzerland: practice ammunition) are actually fired and are filled with plaster of paris. The impact can be located through the plaster of paris dust.
• range-increased storeys such as B. the extended range full bore bullet and base bleed bullet

In addition to the artillery shells, artillery can have rockets and missiles as an effective means. The MARS rocket launcher can u. a. Shoot missiles with explosive / fragmentation effects, bomblet submunitions and anti-tank mines .

Today the Bundeswehr has explosive, light, fog, exercise and drill projectiles.

Problems with firing artillery ammunition

When firing artillery projectiles, problems can arise which are caused by incorrect operation or incorrect handling of the ammunition and which reduce the effectiveness of the weapon. The problems can be divided into the following groups.

Pipe bursters

Pipe splitter of an Austro-Hungarian 10 cm field howitzer M. 14

The pipe burst is one of the most dangerous occurrences . Due to special circumstances, a full or partial detonation of an artillery projectile occurs in the barrel .

“A pipe bursting means the full or partial force detonation of a projectile in the pipe. A distinction is made between: 'full pipe bursters' when the explosive charge detonates, 'not full pipe bursters' when the explosive charge is partially detonated and 'blowers' when the explosive charge burns out, as occurs when the detonator is torn off. "

One possible cause is, for example, an excessive propellant charge because too much explosive has been put into the cartridge . The exploding projectile is also known colloquially as a gun crack . A pipe rupture usually destroys the weapon and endangers the gun operation .

Pipe crashers

A pipe shearer or pipe breaker means the simple breaking of the bullet shell in the pipe. The detonator and the ignition charge do not explode and the explosive charge sometimes only partially. The projectile shattered by external force and not by the entire bound energy of the explosive charge. A pipe crash causes so much damage in the pipe (e.g. pipe upsetting ) that it can no longer be used. A tube damaged in this way would provide the bullet with too little guidance and too little twist , so that it would be ineffective through excessive dispersion. One possible cause is the projectile slipping back onto the propellant charge when taking the tube elevation , which is caused by insufficient or careless application of the projectile. In order to prevent pipe shattering or even pipe bursting, the bullets and their guide strips must be completely freed from ice in frosty weather, otherwise proper attachment is not possible. Iced projectiles thaw in the hot-shot barrel and can slide back onto the propellant charge when the barrel elevation is taken. The pipe must also be completely discharged again during pauses in the fire in order to examine the pipe for foreign objects. Discharging also prevents penetrating water from freezing the bullet in the barrel during frost. In the case of hot-shot pipes, the projectiles can be pushed further into the pipe that has been expanded by the heat. When the barrel cools down again during a pause in fire and contracts again, strong pressure is exerted on the bullet's guide bands. This can lead to cracks in the projectile casing, which can lead to a pipe crashing or bursting when fired.

Early jumpers

The premature and full detonation of a projectile at any point in its trajectory is referred to as an early breaker (also called a track breaker). An early jump can endanger the troops in front of the firing position . A common cause is damaged fuzes caused by rough handling of ammunition or throwing ammunition containers. If, for example, a damaged launch plate comes off the tip of the fuse after launch, the wind pressure is sufficient to trigger the fuse after the pipe safety device has been removed . Highly sensitive detonators can also be triggered when large raindrops, hailstones, branches or power lines are hit and thus lead to early cracks.

Duds

A dud is called a projectile that has reached the target but not taken effect. The cause can be, for example, igniters that have become wet. Certain detonators use black powder as a detonator. If black powder gets wet, it will no longer ignite even after drying, because a component, the saltpeter , has crystallized out. A soft surface at the point of impact can also lead to an otherwise perfect projectile becoming a dud. In this case the ground offers enough resistance to brake the projectile, but not enough to trigger the percussion fuse. This cannot happen on water surfaces because the water is about as hard as concrete at the high impact speed and thus triggers the percussion fuse.

Short shot

A short shot is the unintentional shortening of the bullet's trajectory z. B. by a propellant charge that is too weak. Either too little propellant charge is incorrectly charged or it does not ignite completely, for example due to moisture. Short shots can endanger your own troops in front of the firing position .

Long shot

A long range shot is the unintentional extension of the bullet's trajectory z. B. by an excessive propellant charge. Either too much propellant charge is filled into the cartridge due to gross negligence or the propellant charge has a stronger effect due to improper storage. If propellant charges are exposed to heat (e.g. from solar radiation or from prolonged storage in a hot pipe), their burning rate can increase. This creates a higher gas pressure in the barrel when it is fired, which allows the projectile to fly further than calculated. That is why propellant charges should always be stored in the shade or in a cool place and the barrel should be unloaded during pauses in fire in order to avoid long-range shots, pipe shells or even pipe bursts.

In order to ensure an even burn rate and thus an even accuracy, propellant charge and ammunition are sometimes stored in refrigerated containers, for example in the case of the Paris gun or for ammunition from the Panzer Howitzer 2000 .

See also

• grenade

Web links

Wiktionary: Artillery shell  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

• To equal - magazine of the artillery force. In: http://www.freundeskreis-artillerietruppe.de/ . Retrieved February 10, 2019 (numerous articles related to artillery ammunition). 

literature

• Otmar Rogge: Wing-stabilized artillery projectiles - From the Coender long projectile to the concrete-breaking Röchling grenade . Aachen 2013.
• Günter Bula et al .: Shooting of the Artillery - Battery / Department - Textbook . Military publishing house of the German Democratic Republic, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-327-00757-8 .
• EW Tschurbanow: Internal ballistics of barrel weapons . Military publishing house of the German Democratic Republic, Berlin 1978.
• Wilhelm Speisebecher et al .: Pocket book for artillerymen . 2nd Edition. Wehr und Wissen Verlagsgesellschaft, Koblenz, Bonn, Darmstadt 1974, ISBN 3-8033-0231-5 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Wilhelm Speisebecher et al .: Pocket book for artillerymen . 2nd Edition. Wehr und Wissen Verlagsgesellschaft, Koblenz, Bonn, Darmstadt 1974, ISBN 3-8033-0231-5 , p. 96 ff .
2. ^ Wilhelm Speisebecher et al .: Pocket book for artillerymen . 2nd Edition. Wehr und Wissen Verlagsgesellschaft, Koblenz, Bonn, Darmstadt 1974, ISBN 3-8033-0231-5 , p. 20 .
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Cf. Emil Matt (Hrsg.): Pocket book for the Feldzeugtruppe. Episode 1, Wehr and Wisman Publishing Company, Darmstadt 1958.
4. ↑ Wolfgang Fleischer: German 21 cm mortar 1911-1945 . In: weapons-arsenal-weapons and vehicles of the armies and air forces . tape 162 , p. 39 ( free.fr [PDF]).