Publications - Warhead Technology

TNT equivalency is used as a basis for several important government regulation issues that include limits imposed upon the size and location of explosive storage facilities, siting and construction of explosive manufacturing and test facilities, and the packaging and transportation of explosives.

The objective of this document is to provide background and detailed information about sympathetic reaction phenomenology, relevant analytical models, parameters and key issues required to predict the (sympathetic) reaction of a warhead subjected to the detonation of a neighbor donor one.

Since its founding over 15 years ago, the NATO Insensitive Munitions Information Center (NIMIC) has been dedicated to the acquisition, compilation and analysis of information pertaining to insensitive munitions (IM).

Terrorism has already been identified as one of the risks affecting NATOs security by the Alliances April 1999 Strategic Concept.

One of the stimuli specified in NATO STANAG 4439 on Insensitive Munitions (IM) requirements, and in the national IM policies of France, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States is small arms attack or bullet impact.

TEMPER is a "toolbox" of empirical and analytical models dedicated to ammunition safety. Experts can use it in order to aid in the prediction of the response of a munition to a mechanical or a thermal threat. TEMPER main features are:

Electrical circuits employed in fuzes to detonate energetic materials operate over a wide range of voltages and energies depending on the system requirement.

The most effective method for achieving a successful Insensitive Munition (IM) design is to use a systems approach. The three key elements in the IM systems approach are:

The hazard classification of propellants and large rocket motors incorporating these propellants is an important safety consideration.

The most effective method for achieving successful Insensitive Munition (IM) design is to use a systems approach. The three key elements in the IM systems approach are: