O-018 Studying Explosive Munitions as Ballistic Targets

Munitions are generally used to attack various types of targets. However, they can also be targets by themselves when attacked by other munitions (e.g. bullets) or by their warheads (e.g. shell fragments or shaped charge jets). These attacks may result in severe reactions, up to the "sympathetic" detonation of a whole stockpile. Reducing the vulnerability of target munitions to wartime or terrorist actions requires an in-depth understanding of the associated stimuli and reaction mechanisms, such as shock-induced detonations due to fragment impact or to shaped charge jet penetration, or deflagration-to-detonation transitions due to bullet penetration and tumbling. This is a complex task which requires inputs from various categories of scientists, among them ballisticians.