Method and device for setting the fuse and/or correcting the ignition time of a projectile

Abstract

To avoid mechanical and thermodynamic wear of a programming system, a microwave transmitter, preferably operating in the GHz range, is integrated in the system, while at the same time the advantages of measurement of the muzzle velocity and of a current compensated fuse setting are preserved. The microwave transmitter transmits the current fuse setting, for example, as determined by a fire control computer, to the ammunition, e.g., a projectile. A direct measurement of the actual muzzle velocity itself can be dispensed with, since the real muzzle velocity is determined by the current flight velocity information of the projectile, i.e., it is extrapolated back from this. On the basis of this current projectile velocity, the ignition time, which was preset with the ignition time of the projectile using a standard muzzle velocity, is corrected and used as the current fuse set time.

1 . A method for setting a fuse and/or correcting ignition time of a projectile fired from a weapon, comprising the steps of: 
 measuring of the current velocity of the projectile;    computing true muzzle velocity of the projectile during passage through a cannon tube based on the current projectile velocity; and    adjusting and/or correcting a fuse set time of the fuse based on the computed muzzle velocity.    
     
     
         2 . A method in accordance with  claim 1 , including measuring the current velocity by the Doppler effect.  
     
     
         3 . A method in accordance with  claim 1 , wherein computing true muzzle velocity includes considering current flight time.  
     
     
         4 . A method in accordance with  claim 1 , including computing the correction of the fuse set time in a computing and/or correction unit in the projectile.  
     
     
         5 . A method in accordance with  claim 1 , including computing the correction of the fuse set time at the weapon end in a fire control system, and transmitting data between the projectile and the weapon via microwaves.  
     
     
         6 . A device for setting a fuse and/or correcting ignition time of a projectile fired from a weapon, comprising: 
 a transmitter/receiver and a fire control system arranged at the weapon; and    a chip, a computing and/or correction unit and a timer arranged at the projectile, the chip being connected with the computing and/or correction unit and the timer, wherein an output of the computing and/or correction unit is also connected with the timer, an output of the timer being connected with a fuse or an ignition device of the projectile.    
     
     
         7 . A device for setting a fuse and/or correcting ignition time of a projectile fired from a weapon, comprising: 
 a transmitter/receiver and a fire control system arranged at the weapon; and    a chip and a timer arranged at the projectile, the chip being connected with a timer, and an output of the timer being connected with a fuse or an ignition device of the projectile.    
     
     
         8 . A device in accordance with  claim 6 , wherein the transmitter/receiver is a microwave transmitter/receiver that operates in the GHz range.  
     
     
         9 . A device in accordance with  claim 7 , wherein the transmitter/receiver is a microwave transmitter/receiver that operates in the GHz range.  
     
     
         10 . A device in accordance with  claim 6 , wherein the chip in the projectile is an RFID chip.  
     
     
         11 . A device in accordance with  claim 7 , where the chip in the projectile is an RFID chip.