Editing Shaped charge (section)

==Variants==
There are several forms of shaped charge.

===Linear shaped charges===
[[File:linear_shaped_charge.svg|thumb|upright|A linear shaped charge]]

A linear shaped charge (LSC) has a lining with V-shaped profile and varying length. The lining is surrounded with explosive, the explosive then encased within a suitable material that serves to protect the explosive and to confine (tamp) it on detonation. "At detonation, the focusing of the explosive high pressure wave as it becomes incident to the side wall causes the metal liner of the LSC to collapse–creating the cutting force."<ref>Accurate Energetic Systems LLC [http://www.aesys.biz/wp-content/uploads/14-102_liner-shaped-charge.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170122193122/http://www.aesys.biz/wp-content/uploads/14-102_liner-shaped-charge.pdf|date=2017-01-22}}" Linear Shape Charge</ref> The detonation projects into the lining, to form a continuous, knife-like (planar) jet. The jet cuts any material in its path, to a depth depending on the size and materials used in the charge. Generally, the jet penetrates around 1 to 1.2 times<ref>{{cite web |title=Linear Shaped Charge |url=http://www.aesys.biz/wp-content/uploads/14-102_liner-shaped-charge.pdf |website=aesys.biz |publisher=Accurate Energetic Systems, LLC |access-date=2016-02-10 |archive-date=2017-01-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170122193122/http://www.aesys.biz/wp-content/uploads/14-102_liner-shaped-charge.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref> the charge width. For the cutting of complex geometries, there are also flexible versions of the linear shaped charge, these with a lead or high-density foam sheathing and a ductile/flexible lining material, which also is often lead. LSCs are commonly used in the cutting of rolled steel joists (RSJ) and other structural targets, such as in the [[building implosion|controlled demolition]] of buildings. LSCs are also used to separate the stages of [[multistage rocket]]s, and [[Flight termination|destroy them]] when they go errant.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Manley |first=Scott |date=2023-04-30 |title=How To Destroy Wayward Rockets - Flight Termination Systems Explained |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yekMWWcpfOA |website=YouTube}}</ref>

===Explosively formed penetrator===
{{Main|Explosively formed penetrator}}

[[File:explosively formed penetrator.gif|thumb|upright=1.4|The formation of an EFP warhead. [[United States Air Force|USAF]] Research Laboratory]]

The explosively formed penetrator (EFP) is also known as the self-forging fragment (SFF), explosively formed projectile (EFP), self-forging projectile (SEFOP), plate charge, and [[Misnay-Schardin effect|Misnay-Schardin]] (MS) charge. An EFP uses the action of the explosive's detonation wave (and to a lesser extent the propulsive effect of its detonation products) to project and deform a plate or dish of ductile metal (such as copper, iron, or tantalum) into a compact high-velocity projectile, commonly called the slug. This slug is projected toward the target at about two kilometers per second. The chief advantage of the EFP over a conventional (e.g., conical) shaped charge is its effectiveness at very great standoffs, equal to hundreds of times the charge's diameter (perhaps a hundred meters for a practical device).

The EFP is relatively unaffected by first-generation [[reactive armor]] and can travel up to perhaps 1000 charge diameters (CD)s before its velocity becomes ineffective at penetrating armor due to aerodynamic drag, or successfully hitting the target becomes a problem. The impact of a ball or slug EFP normally causes a large-diameter but relatively shallow hole, of, at most, a couple of CDs. If the EFP perforates the armor, [[spalling]] and extensive behind armor effects (BAE, also called behind armor damage, BAD) will occur. 

The BAE is mainly caused by the high-temperature and high-velocity armor and slug fragments being injected into the interior space and the blast [[overpressure]] caused by this debris. More modern EFP warhead versions, through the use of advanced initiation modes, can also produce long-rods (stretched slugs), multi-slugs and finned rod/slug projectiles. The long-rods are able to penetrate a much greater depth of armor, at some loss to BAE, multi-slugs are better at defeating light or area targets and the finned projectiles are much more accurate.

The use of this warhead type is mainly restricted to lightly armored areas of main battle tanks (MBT) such as the top, belly and rear armored areas. It is well suited for the attack of other less heavily protected armored fighting vehicles (AFV) and in the breaching of material targets (buildings, bunkers, bridge supports, etc.). The newer rod projectiles may be effective against the more heavily armored areas of MBTs. Weapons using the EFP principle have already been used in combat; the "[[Smart bomb|smart]]" submunitions in the [[CBU-97]] [[cluster bomb]] used by the US Air Force and Navy in the 2003 Iraq war employed this principle, and the US Army is reportedly experimenting with precision-guided [[artillery shell]]s under Project [[SADARM]] (Seek And Destroy ARMor). There are also various other projectile (BONUS, DM 642) and rocket submunitions (Motiv-3M, DM 642) and mines (MIFF, TMRP-6) that use EFP principle. Examples of EFP warheads are US patents 5038683<ref>Ernest L.Baker, Pai-Lien Lu, Brian Fuchs and Barry Fishburn(1991)"[http://www.google.com/patents/pdf/High_explosive_assembly_for_projecting_h.pdf?id=2dkbAAAAEBAJ&output=pdf&sig=ACfU3U1uJ8lS6CfmjJo1JKILjvWDC9sCSg High explosive assembly for projecting high velocity long rods]{{dead link|date=June 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}"</ref> and US6606951.<ref>Arnold S. Klein (2003) "[http://www.google.com/patents/pdf/Bounding_anti_tank_anti_vehicle_weapon.pdf?id=oOoMAAAAEBAJ&output=pdf&sig=ACfU3U3WM4xBQ5f0d23uQdUeF1unjyGE9Q Bounding Anti-tank/Anti-vehicle weapon]{{dead link|date=June 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}"</ref>

===Tandem warhead===
Some modern anti-tank rockets ([[RPG-27]], [[RPG-29]]) and missiles ([[BGM-71 TOW|TOW-2]], TOW-2A, [[Eryx (missile)|Eryx]], [[Euromissile HOT|HOT]], [[MILAN]]) use a [[tandem warhead]] shaped charge, consisting of two separate shaped charges, one in front of the other, typically with some distance between them. TOW-2A was the first to use tandem warheads in the mid-1980s, an aspect of the weapon which the US Army had to reveal under news media and Congressional pressure resulting from the concern that NATO antitank missiles were ineffective against Soviet tanks that were fitted with the new [[reactive armour|ERA boxes]]. The Army revealed that a 40&nbsp;mm precursor shaped-charge warhead was fitted on the tip of the TOW-2 and TOW-2A collapsible probe.<ref>Goodman A. "ARMY ANTITANK CANDIDATES PROLIFERATE" Armed Forces Journal International/December 1987, p. 23</ref> 

Usually, the front charge is somewhat smaller than the rear one, as it is intended primarily to disrupt ERA boxes or tiles. Examples of tandem warheads are US patents 7363862<ref>Jason C. Gilliam and Darin L.Kielsmeier(2008)"[http://www.google.com/patents/pdf/Multi_purpose_single_initiated_tandem_wa.pdf?id=Nt-qAAAAEBAJ&output=pdf&sig=ACfU3U0l5gTdL-TqxXkvATTpIYTVLeAg2g Multi-purpose single initiated tandem warhead]{{dead link|date=June 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}"</ref> and US 5561261.<ref>Klaus Lindstadt and Manfred Klare(1996)"[http://www.google.com/patents/pdf/Tandem_warhead_with_a_secondary_projecti.pdf?id=icslAAAAEBAJ&output=pdf&sig=ACfU3U3nqrCamThCu2bvHpqBNleeq4ssfQ Tandem warhead with a secondary projectile]{{dead link|date=June 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}"</ref> The US [[AGM-114 Hellfire|Hellfire]] antiarmor missile is one of the few that have accomplished the complex engineering feat of having two shaped charges of the same diameter stacked in one warhead. Recently, a Russian arms firm revealed a 125mm tank cannon round with two same diameter shaped charges one behind the other, but with the back one offset so its penetration stream will not interfere with the front shaped charge's penetration stream. The reasoning behind both the Hellfire and the Russian 125&nbsp;mm munitions having tandem same diameter warheads is not to increase penetration, but to increase the [[beyond-armour effect]].

===Voitenko compressor===
{{Main|Voitenko compressor}}
In 1964 a Soviet scientist proposed that a shaped charge originally developed for piercing thick steel armor be adapted to the task of accelerating shock waves.<ref>Войтенко (Voitenko), А.Е. (1964) "Получение газовых струй большой скорости" (Obtaining high speed gas jets), ''Доклады Академии Наук СССР'' (Reports of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR), '''158''': 1278-1280.</ref> The resulting device, looking a little like a wind tunnel, is called a Voitenko compressor.<ref>NASA, "[https://history.nasa.gov/SP-440/ch6-15.htm The Suicidal Wind Tunnel]"</ref> The Voitenko compressor initially separates a test gas from a shaped charge with a malleable [[steel]] plate. When the shaped charge detonates, most of its energy is focused on the steel plate, driving it forward and pushing the test gas ahead of it. [[Ames Laboratory]] translated this idea into a self-destroying shock tube. A 66-pound shaped charge accelerated the gas in a 3-cm glass-walled tube 2 meters in length. The velocity of the resulting shock wave was 220,000 feet per second (67&nbsp;km/s). The apparatus exposed to the detonation was completely destroyed, but not before useful data was extracted.<ref>{{cite book |title=NASA's Contributions to Aeronautics: Flight environment, operations, flight testing, and research |date=2010 |publisher=National Aeronautics and Space Administration |isbn=978-0-16-084636-6 |pages=335–336 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C6YqGPYkw9gC |language=en}}</ref>

In a typical Voitenko compressor, a shaped charge accelerates [[hydrogen]] gas which in turn accelerates a thin disk up to about 40&nbsp;km/s.<ref>Explosive Accelerators"[http://www.islandone.org/LEOBiblio/SPBI134.HTM Voitenko Implosion Gun] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110806021055/http://www.islandone.org/LEOBiblio/SPBI134.HTM |date=2011-08-06 }}"</ref><ref>I.I. Glass and J.C. Poinssot, "[https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19700009349_1970009349.pdf IMPLOSION DRIVEN SHOCK TUBE]"</ref> A slight modification to the Voitenko compressor concept is a super-compressed detonation,<ref>Shuzo Fujiwara (1992) "[http://www.terrapub.co.jp/e-library/sawaoka/pdf/007.pdf Explosive Technique for Generation of High Dynamic Pressure] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716023701/http://www.terrapub.co.jp/e-library/sawaoka/pdf/007.pdf |date=2011-07-16 }}"</ref><ref>Z.Y. Liu, "[http://reposit.lib.kumamoto-u.ac.jp/bitstream/2298/3007/11/21_102_011.pdf Overdriven Detonation of Explosives due to High-Speed Plate Impact] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327133608/http://reposit.lib.kumamoto-u.ac.jp/bitstream/2298/3007/11/21_102_011.pdf |date=2009-03-27}}"</ref> a device that uses a compressible liquid or solid fuel in the steel compression chamber instead of a traditional gas mixture.<ref>Zhang, Fan (Medicine Hat, Alberta) Murray, Stephen Burke (Medicine Hat, Alberta), Higgins, Andrew (Montreal, Quebec) (2005) "[http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/images4/PCT-PAGES/2006/102006/06024137/06024137.pdf Super compressed detonation method and device to effect such detonation]{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}"</ref><ref>Jerry Pentel and Gary G. Fairbanks(1992)"[http://www.google.com/patents/download/Multiple_stage_munition.pdf?id=dlIcAAAAEBAJ&output=pdf&sig=ACfU3U2_qucvkdSb7qnpTNdPx7M8Y-ropQ Multiple Stage Munition]{{dead link|date=June 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}"</ref> A further extension of this technology is the explosive [[diamond anvil cell]],<ref>John M. Heberlin(2006)"[http://www.google.com/patents/pdf/Enhancement_of_solid_explosive_munitions.pdf?id=yC56AAAAEBAJ&output=pdf&sig=ACfU3U1Hwer6m2VSzOXN0VlshjXBiTVvUQ Enhancement of Solid Explosive Munitions Using Reflective Casings]{{dead link|date=June 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}"</ref><ref>Frederick J. Mayer(1988)"[http://www.google.com/patents/pdf/Materials_processing_using_chemically_dr.pdf?id=fx85AAAAEBAJ&output=pdf&sig=ACfU3U22qU2hg7C-Yk7p01FD6KuMb_odxw Materials Processing Using Chemically Driven Spherically Symmetric Implosions]{{dead link|date=June 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}"</ref><ref>Donald R. Garrett(1972)"[http://www.google.com/patents/pdf/DIAMOND_IMPLOSION_APPARATUS.pdf?id=0fEsAAAAEBAJ&output=pdf&sig=ACfU3U1jMbYZhl1GHaIzcaiq6EQEb9Zsjw Diamond Implosion Apparatus]{{dead link|date=June 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}"</ref><ref>L.V. Al'tshuler, K.K. Krupnikov, V.N. Panov and R.F. Trunin(1996)"[http://ufn.ru/ufn96/ufn96_5/Russian/r965e.pdf Explosive laboratory devices for shock wave compression studies]"</ref> utilizing multiple opposed shaped-charge jets projected at a single steel encapsulated fuel,<ref>A. A. Giardini and J. E. Tydings(1962)"[http://www.minsocam.org/ammin/AM47/AM47_1393.pdf Diamond Synthesis: Observations On The Mechanism of Formation]"</ref> such as hydrogen. The fuels used in these devices, along with the secondary combustion reactions and long blast impulse, produce similar conditions to those encountered in fuel-air and [[thermobaric]] explosives.<ref>Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (2004) "[https://www.llnl.gov/str/JulAug04/pdfs/07_04.2.pdf Going To Extremes] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081207161555/https://www.llnl.gov/str/JulAug04/pdfs/07_04.2.pdf |date=2008-12-07}}"</ref><ref>[[Raymond Jeanloz]], Peter M. Celliers, Gilbert W.Collins, Jon H. Eggert, Kanani K.M. Lee, R. Stewart McWilliams, Stephanie Brygoo and Paul Loubeyre (2007) [http://www.pnas.org/content/104/22/9172.full.pdf Achieving high-density states through shock-wave loading of precompressed samples]"</ref><ref>F. Winterberg "[https://arxiv.org/abs/0802.3408 Conjectured Metastable Super-Explosives formed under High Pressure for Thermonuclear Ignition]"</ref><ref>Young K. Bae (2008)" [https://arxiv.org/abs/0805.0340 Metastable Innershell Molecular State (MIMS)]"</ref>

===Nuclear shaped charges===
The proposed [[Project Orion (nuclear propulsion)|Project Orion nuclear propulsion]] system would have required the development of [[nuclear shaped charge]]s for reaction acceleration of spacecraft. Shaped-charge effects driven by nuclear explosions have been discussed speculatively, but are not known to have been produced in fact.<ref>Andre Gsponer (2008) "[https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0510071v5 Fourth Generation Nuclear Weapons: Military Effectiveness and Collateral Effects]"</ref><ref>Dyson, George, ''Project Orion: The Atomic Spaceship 1957–1965'', p. 113. {{ISBN|0-14-027732-3}}.</ref><ref>Dyson, ''Project Orion'', p. 220.</ref> For example, the early nuclear weapons designer [[Ted Taylor (physicist)|Ted Taylor]] was quoted as saying, in the context of shaped charges, ''"A one-kiloton fission device, shaped properly, could make a hole {{convert|10|ft|m|spell=in}} in diameter a thousand feet (305 m) into solid rock."''<ref>McPhee, John, ''The Curve of Binding Energy'', p.159 {{ISBN|0-374-51598-0}}</ref> Also, a nuclear driven [[explosively formed penetrator]] was apparently proposed for terminal ballistic missile defense in the 1960s.<ref>Explosively Produced Flechettes; JASON report 66-121, Institute for Defense Analysis, 1966</ref><ref>Interview with Dr. Richard Blankenbecler http://www.aip.org/history/ohilist/5196.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110912100014/http://www.aip.org/history/ohilist/5196.html|date=2011-09-12}}</ref>