SOME FEATURES AND APPLICATIONS OF BALLISTIC SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN CHINA

摘要

China continues a broad spectrum of research on Ballistics to provide insight and resolutionof major technical challenges. The current situation and development of Ballistics of Chinain recent years are presented as follows:(1)Weapon launching theory and technology. In recent years, some important achievementshave been made in the field of new launching technologies, such as electrothermal-chemical(ETC) gun and electromagnetic (EM) railgun in China. At present, it is viable for the ETCgun to be applied in the engineering field. And the prototype system for demonstrating thefocused technology has been designed, manufactured and tested for EM railgun. Small andmedium caliber spin tube guns have been produced, and the investigations on the weaponsafety and launching dynamics have also been conducted.(2) Theory and technology of propulsion and extended range for projectiles and rockets. Thecompound extended range of the howitzer and tactical rocket weapons have been increasedin a great extent. Some investigations have been made in the fields of high energypropellant, shell material of high intensity and light weight engines, aerodynamic dragreduction, etc.(3) Precision theory and technology of projectiles and rockets. In recent years, many kindsof guided and precision technologies have emerged out of laboratory research, such as, theterminal sensitive, trajectory correction, guided and terminal guided, and simplified-control,etc., which greatly enhanced the probability of hitting target.(4) Theory and technology of high efficient terminal lethality. The penetration performanceof nano-grained composite material of penetrator has been improved significantly. Thepassive mass of the penetrator has been reduced by the means of magnesium matrixcomposites. The damage power of ammunition has been enhanced with the application ofcomposite explosives. Some breakthroughs have been achieved in the formation andtransition mechanism of multi-damage models, explosion control technologies. Thepenetrating law of multilayer advanced composite armor and stability of explosive reactivearmor have been studied, the mechanism of high-velocity penetration and the evaluationmethod have also been proposed.Most significantly, China has elevated its emphasis from ballistic science and technologydevelopment to the fires application. In concert with the recent efforts on precision, longrange,high-efficient lethality of fires, it is anticipated that the pull of these applications willenable even greater advances in ballistics science and technology.