Old documents can be real treasures.
A couple years ago I read that the bunker penetration capability of cruise missiles was increased by adding a shaped charge to their nose that opens a hole in and weakens the structure. The principle has since been applied to warheads with "follow-through" function. Everytime I read about such a warhead the reports make it sound as if it was a great feat of engineering.
Now imagine my astonishment when I saw this
edit: Better try this volume.
S O
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People think they burn their way through, but it is a supper fast moving object (a plasma in this case) punching through an object. From what I have read, the principals as it passes through a barrier most resemble hydrodynamics.
ReplyDeleteI think they were first used in WW1. If memory serves me with anti-submarine rockets fired from airplanes.
There is an odd little document here on the timeline of discoveries.
http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA220095
No plasma. It's not even liquid, much less ionised gas (plasma).
ReplyDelete