GB872588A - Improvements in projectiles to be launched by means of a firearm and including an auxiliary propulsion motor - Google Patents

Abstract

872,588. Ammunition. BREVETS-AEROMECANIQUES S. A. May 4, 1960 [May 21, 1959], No. 15788/60. Class 9(1). A projectile 2 launched from a firearm barrel 1 is provided with an auxiliary propulsion jet motor 4 characterized in that the said motor is axially slidable with respect to the projectile between a front abutment 9 and a rear abutment 7, both carried by the projectile, in such a manner that only the projectile is initially accelerated when the firearm is fired and thus is the only part to give rise to recoil. The propellant is housed in an annular chamber 5 closed at the front and having at least one annular exhaust nozzle 6 at the rear. The rear abutment 7, on the tubular extension 3 of the projectile, limits the rearward movement of an abutment 8 that projects inwardly from the chamber 5, though preferably the thrust of the motor prevents these abutments from coming into contact. In operation, when the firearm is fired the powder gases thrust the projectile forward, a conduit 11 in the projectile extension 3 soon becomes aligned with a conduit 12 in the motor housing, the gases thereby ignite the propellant and the motor comes to bear on the abutment 9 of the projectile and transmits its thrust thereto. If the propellant fails to ignite, when the projectile has moved a distance Y the firearm and extension 3 are no longer gastight, due to an increase in the internal diameter of the latter, and the gases escape, thereby preventing a sudden increase of the recoil when the motor is drawn forward by the projectile. The projectile cannot burst until the abutment 10 of the motor depresses a plunger 14 in the projectile, which operates the electric fuze. Stabilizing tail fins 15 are mounted on the motor and a gas deflecting shield 16 is mounted on the firearm barrel 1.