Flexible armored blanket development
An exploratory development contract was undertaken on December 23, 1977 which had as its purpose the development and demonstration of a flexible armored blanket design suitable for providing ballistic protection to nuclear weapons during shipment. Objectives were to design and fabricate a prototype blanket which will conform to the weapon shape, is troop-handleable in the field, and which, singly or in multiple layers, can defeat a range of kinetic energy armor piercing (AP) ammunition potentially capable of damaging the critical portion of the nuclear weapon. Following empirical testing, including the firing of threat ammunition under controlled laboratory and field test conditions, materials were selected and assembled into two blanket designs, each weighing approximately 54 kg/m{sup 2} (11 lbs/ft{sup 2}) and estimated to cost from $111 to $180 per ft{sup 2} in production. A firing demonstration to evidence blanket performance against terrorist/light infantry weapons, heavy infantry weapons, and aircraft cannon was conducted for representatives of the DOD and interested Sandia employees on April 12, 1978. The blankets performed better than anticipated defeating bullets up to 7.62 mm x 51 mm AP with one layer and projectiles up to 23 mm HEI with two layers. Based on these preliminary tests it is recommended that development work be continued with the following objectives: (1) the selection by the DOD of priority applications, (2) the specific design and fabrication of sufficient quantities of armored blankets for field testing, (3) the evaluation of the blankets by DOD operational units, with reports to Sandia Laboratories to enable final design.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-76DP00789
- OSTI ID:
- 662839
- Report Number(s):
- SAND-96-0197; ON: DE98050172
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 1 May 1978
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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