O-064 Fragment Impact Testing Requirements, Methods and Issues - Part 1: Representativeness

One of the stimuli called out in STANAG 4439 and in the IM requirements of the US and France is fragment impact. Although AC 310 has generated a draft STANAG on fragment impact testing, the international technical community has not reached agreement regarding either the characteristics of the fragment(s) to be used, or the method of firing them at the test item. Advantages and disadvantages of the various approaches used have been debated without any standard methodology being accepted.

This paper provides a summary of the methodologies developed by the NIMIC nations for conducting fragment impact testing. Fragment threats, the fragments designed to represent these threats, and the test methods developed to assess the results of fragment impact on munitions will be discussed. It is NIMIC's intent that this paper will provide background information on, and analysis of factors affecting the representativeness of testing options, i.e., how closely the testing parameters represent the actual threat(s).

A follow-on paper is planned, which will address the reproducibility of test methods, by analyzing available data on such variables as fragment orientation, spacing and firing method. This paper is extracted from a larger NIMIC document, and has been edited for open distribution.