This is excellent news, and a no brain-er. By switching to an explosive like this, IED’s or RPG enemy attacks will have a less likely-hood of detonating these IMX-101 based munitions. I have no idea if they will put this in the smaller munitions, but the bigger artillery rounds will have it.
That is good news for the guys who have to transport this stuff by air, land or sea. Even those that are posted at combat outposts where one rocket or mortar could land on an ammunition magazine, and potentially blow it and the base up. Having these types of munitions will at least minimize the chance of ‘secondary’ type deaths and injuries that can happen in these types of attacks. –Matt
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Goodbye to TNT: Engineers qualify safer, more stable explosive
By Tracy Robillard
August 11, 2010
The U.S. Army recently qualified a new explosive that has the same lethality as traditional TNT, but is safer for Soldiers because it is far less likely to explode if dropped, shot at or hit by a roadside bomb during transport.
The new formula, called IMX-101 (Insensitive Munitions Explosive 101), is proven to be safer and more stable than TNT, which ultimately eases the warfighter’s job when it comes to transporting, storing and loading ammunition containing the new explosive.
“It allows us to meet the lethality of TNT, while being more thermally stable,” said Philip Samuels, a chemical engineer with Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC).
“We’re taking the conventional explosive and replacing it with a group of ingredients that are less sensitive.”
Anthony Di Stasio, ARDEC Project Officer, said, “Because it’s less sensitive, the Army can store more shells in a magazine, they can store more of it in one building at a closer distance to the Soldiers. It significantly reduces the logistics burden both here in the U.S. and overseas.”
Throughout the last four years, experts at ARDEC and Project Manager, Combat Ammunition Systems (PM CAS) have worked together to select, test and prepare a more stable explosive to meet the Department of Defense requirement for insensitive munitions.
The goal was to find a safer, less sensitive formula that could easily be fitted for use in the Army’s existing large-caliber projectiles.
In 2007, the Picatinny team began an open competition, soliciting TNT-like formulas from government, foreign, and private organizations under the Common Low-cost Insensitive Munitions Explosive (CLIMEx) program. The team received 23 submissions, and after a year of testing, they selected the top three formulas to advance to another round of system level tests.
“The system level tests represent real hazards and threats our Soldiers face in combat,” Di Stasio said. “If they are being attacked by RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades), then we fire our new system with RPGs to make sure it can hold up.”
IMX-101 withstood all the tests. In fact, the successful RPG test was a first of its kind for a high explosive loaded munition. It was also the first large caliber projectile of its kind to pass a sympathetic reaction test without the use of barriers. Essentially, it prevents the propagation from one round to another to minimize damage from unintended initiations.
“If you were involved in an incident near a traditional TNT projectile hit with an RPG or an improvised explosive device (IED), you wouldn’t be standing here today to tell about it,” said Charlie Patel, Program Management Engineer for PM-CAS. “But with IMX-101, all that would happen is the explosive would deflagrate, and the shell would break into a few pieces. You wouldn’t have the big detonation that would wipe out the vehicle and driver or a whole storage area and crew.”
The team chose IMX-101, developed by BAE Corporation, as the winning formula in 2008 not only because it exceeded all system tests, but also because it was the most cost-efficient contender. All explosives were made on production-scale equipment at Holston Army Ammunition Plant to minimize risks with transitioning to production.
“It’s a rapidly-expanding solid. The contractor’s goal was to find the correct combination of insensitive ingredients,” Di Stasio said. “All three key ingredients were already production-ready and low cost. The formula demonstrated the capability, but ARDEC had to research and characterize its performance and sensitivity, and optimize it for production.”
Additionally, the new explosive and the projectiles loaded with it had to undergo a range of qualification tests before it could be mass produced for the Army. The team performed verification tests to make sure the ammunition is compatible with the many artillery fuzes currently used by the Army and the Marines.
“Our role was to take the IMX-101 formula and do the research and testing necessary to get it carried into production,” Samuels said. “We had to tweak the supplementary charge in the artillery systems, but overall it was compatible with all the existing systems, which saved time and money.”
Typically for a project of this magnitude, the qualification testing period lasts five years, but the Picatinny team shortened the process to only two years.
“We had tremendous support from the OSD-Office of Technology Transition, PEO Ammunition, the Joint Insensitive Munitions Technology Program, Army, Marine Corps, and ARDEC,” Patel said. “All the organizations involved helped us to accelerate the project so we could get it to the warfighter quicker.”
Qualification testing began in 2008 and ended in June of this year. Army leaders signed the Engineering Change Proposal shortly after, making the selection official and placing the formula into production.
The Army is scheduled to begin delivery next year of 1,200 M795 projectiles that will contain IMX-101, followed by the Marines.
While the material cost for IMX-101 is higher than that of TNT, the price will fall as the Army produces more quantities in coming years. However, the real cost savings comes with the improved logistics of the new explosive, which Di Stasio said will cost a significant amount less than the Army currently pays to transport and store TNT.
“Our intent in the future is to use up the remaining TNT- loaded M795 projectiles during training, and to push the new projectiles containing IMX-101 to the theater, so in tactical situations where threats are present, Soldiers will use IMX-101,” Patel said. “This new explosive will save lives and reduce damage to equipment and facilities.”
Based on the success of the IMX-101 program so far, the team is also researching other applications for the new explosive.
For example, a program has already begun to qualify the 105mm M1 cartridge with IMX-101.
Additionally, ARDEC has developed its own version of the formula, called IMX-102, that can be applied to other weapons for additional safety for Soldiers in conducting various combat functions.
Story here.