O-115 Status of Reduced Vulnerability Gun Propellants

The aim of this paper is to provide a review of the current status of development and production capability of reduced vulnerability gun propellants fulfilling IM requirements. This review focuses on propellant formulations that could be fielded within 10 years for small, medium and large calibre ammunition. The following selection criteria were used: significant number of propelling charges must already have been fired in an intended application and physical facilities must exist to manufacture them on production scale level. It was found that numerous formulations with reduced sensitivity are currently available especially for 155mm charges and two trends exist for the development of reduced vulnerability propellants. These trends are modifying an existing NC based formulation by replacing sensitive and toxic ingredients or improving the original LOVA propellant formulation.