The art of bunker busting

A direct military engineering application of the fusion of rate dependent plasticity with microfabrication based ultra-sensitive sensor technology is the so-called bunker buster missile. With its embedded strain rate and frictionally generated heat sensing elements each smart fuse within the warhead acts at the same time as a small scale material characterization laboratory detecting what is happening mechanically at the instant of impact and during penetration such that the optimum timing of explosion inside the target bunker can be precisely determined by the sensor looped logic unit. The microprocessor of the penetrator is capable of counting layers, voids and floors, calculating the distance traveled after the entry impact based on the high strain rate mechanical deformation data of a wide range of structural materials (rock, concrete, construction steel etc.) stored in the memory and thus initiating the explosion when it reaches a predetermined target level inside the bunker structure. These fuses are known as hard target smart fuzes (HTSF) and represent a significant milestone in microprocessor controlled mechanical sensor and detonator integration in advanced weaponry. This video has been uploaded to youtube for academic and instructional purposes. Its copyrights are retained by the National Geographic Channel and natgeotv.com.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• bunker
• buster
• missile
• hard
• target
• smart
• fuzes
• HTSF
• rate-dependent
• plasticity
• sensor
• detonator
• integration
• military
• engineering
• advanced
• weaponry