A high-explosive squash head (HESH), in British terminology, or a high-explosive plastic/plasticized (HEP), in American terminology,[1] is a type of explosiveprojectile with plastic explosive that conforms to the surface of a target before detonating, which improves the transfer of explosive energy to the target. Squash head projectiles are similar to high-explosive projectiles and are well suited to many of the same targets. However, while HESH projectiles are not armour-piercing, they can defeat armored targets by causing spall, which can injure or kill a vehicle's occupants or detonate some types of ammunition.[2]
HESH rounds are thin metal shells filled with plastic explosive and a delayed-action fuze at the base of the shell.[3] On impact, the inert material, followed by plastic explosive, is "squashed" against the surface of the target and spreads out to form a disc or "pat" of explosive. The inert material helps prevent premature detonation of the plastic explosive and sustains the impact pressure and temperature.[3][2]
Milliseconds later, the base fuze detonates the explosive, creating a shock wave that, owing to its large surface area and direct contact with the target, is transmitted through the material. In the metal armour of a tank, the compression shock wave is conducted through the armour to the point where it reaches the metal-air interface (the hollow crew compartment), where some of the energy is reflected as a tension wave, a phenomenon called impulsive loading. At the point where the compression and tension waves intersect, a high-stress zone is created in the metal, causing pieces of steel to be projected off the interior wall at high velocity.[2]
Shell design: charge, fuze, shell
Function of HESH-munition
EffectEdit
This fragmentation by blast wave is known as 'scabbing' or 'spalling', with the fragments termed 'scabs or 'spall'.[4][2]
Depending upon the armour thickness, a heavy piece of target material (4 to 10 kg for a 120 mm round used in Arjun MBT[4]) can separate out from the other end of the target with supersonic velocities. This spall is sufficient to permanently damage the essentials of a tank, igniting the ammunition or fuel storage and severely damaging the crew to achieve a "total kill" of the target. In general, the higher the armour thickness, the higher the scab weight will be.[2]
The fragmentation achieved by impulsive loading of armour block by a HESH round is more lethal than are similar high explosive rounds.[4][2][clarification needed]
Front and back side of armour block impacted by HESH rounds
Light spalling damage caused by HESH rounds
Heavy spalling damage caused by HESH rounds
UseEdit
HESH rounds are mostly fired from guns with rifled, rather than smoothbored, barrels. Rifling causes a projectile to spin, creating centrifugal force and improving accuracy. This makes a HESH shell more effective on impact by increasing the surface area of contact for the explosive: the faster the spin, the larger the contact patch will be. Contrarily, the centrifugal force resulting from rifling would decrease the penetrating power of a high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) shaped charge warhead by tending to disperse the shaped charge jet. HESH shells are not specifically designed to perforate the armour of vehicles, unlike HEAT rounds, with their shaped charge jets. HESH shells rely instead on transmitting a shock wave through solid steel armour.[2][5]
HESH ammunition has good general purpose use, being effective against most targets, though the round is generally used at relatively low velocities because high velocity excessively disperses the pat of explosive. While only effective against tanks without spaced armour or spall liners, the round is still favoured for combat demolition purposes. The flattened high-velocity explosive pat can destroy concrete constructions much faster than a HEAT round (which is designed to penetrate armour), and without the dangerous fragmentation of a traditional high explosive (HE) fragmentation round.[3]
HistoryEdit
HESH was developed by Dennistoun Burney in the 1940s for the British war effort, originally as an anti-fortification "wallbuster" munition for use against concrete. He also led British developments in recoilless rifles as a means to deliver the shell. An early application of the HESH principle post WWII was the L9 165 mm demolition gun fitted to AVRE combat engineer vehicles.[6]
HESH was found to be surprisingly effective against metallic armour as well as concrete structures. It was widely used as a primary round in most large calibre rifled guns.
UsersEdit
Japanese 105 mm Type B HESH shell for the Royal Ordnance L7 rifled gun in use on the Type 74 tankUS Navy technicians building a munitions disposal for HESH (HEP) shells
HESH rounds were fielded mainly by the British Army as the main explosive round of its main battle tanks during the Cold War. It was also used by other military forces, especially those that acquired the early post-World War II British 105 mm Royal Ordnance L7A1 tank gun, including Germany, India, Israel, and Sweden.
Since the 1970s, HESH ammunition has increasingly lost favour as armour designs have trended towards layered composites of hard metal and heat-resistant materials. This type of armour conducts shock waves poorly. Anti-spalling devices (spall liners), made of materials such as Kevlar, are commonly fitted to the interior surface of modern armoured vehicles to minimise spalling effects.[7] Another reason for the declining use of HESH rounds is the preference of most armies for smoothbore guns due to the use of high power armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot which significantly decrease the rifled barrel life.
British Challenger 1 and Challenger 2 tanks, and India's Arjun tank (which has the same rifled 120 mm gun as the UK's MBTs) use HESH rounds as their primary ammunition. Amongst other ammunition types, the Stryker Mobile Gun System variant is to be equipped with a 105 mm HESH round for demolition and bunker-busting purposes. Argentina's TAM medium tanks, Canada's Leopard C1 and Leopard C2 main battle tanks (all of which mount the same 105 mm gun as the Centurion), the Australian Leopard AS1 main battle tank, and the Chinese VT-4 main battle tank (which mounts a 125 mm smoothbore gun) all use HESH rounds.
^"Explosive_weapon_effects_web.pdf" (PDF). gichd.org. p. 22. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
^ abcdefgDeshpande, P.U.; Prabhu, V.D.; Prabhakaran, K.V. (2003-10-01). "Impulsive Loading of Armour by High Explosive Squash Head Munition". Defence Science Journal. 53 (4): 357–365. doi:10.14429/dsj.53.2282.
^ abcRoy, S. N., Armament Research & Development Establishment, Kirkee (29 March 2014). "Some design and functional aspects of squash head shell". Defence Science Journal. 12 (1): 55–58. doi:10.14429/dsj.12.6834 (inactive 1 August 2023).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of August 2023 (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^"115 mm, 120 mm & 125 mm Tank Guns". GICHD. Retrieved 2021-10-04.
^Edgerton, David (2012). Britain's war machine : weapons, resources and experts in the Second World War. London: Penguin. Chapter-8 Boffins. ISBN978-0-14-102610-7. OCLC 761379325.
high, explosive, squash, head, high, explosive, squash, head, hesh, british, terminology, high, explosive, plastic, plasticized, american, terminology, type, explosive, projectile, with, plastic, explosive, that, conforms, surface, target, before, detonating, . A high explosive squash head HESH in British terminology or a high explosive plastic plasticized HEP in American terminology 1 is a type of explosive projectile with plastic explosive that conforms to the surface of a target before detonating which improves the transfer of explosive energy to the target Squash head projectiles are similar to high explosive projectiles and are well suited to many of the same targets However while HESH projectiles are not armour piercing they can defeat armored targets by causing spall which can injure or kill a vehicle s occupants or detonate some types of ammunition 2 High explosive squash head HESH Cross section of a 120 mm HESH round from the Arjun main battle tank Contents 1 Design 1 1 Function 1 2 Effect 1 3 Use 2 History 3 Users 4 See also 5 ReferencesDesign EditExternal video nbsp HESH round working principle animation on YouTube nbsp HESH round comparison on YouTubeFunction Edit HESH rounds are thin metal shells filled with plastic explosive and a delayed action fuze at the base of the shell 3 On impact the inert material followed by plastic explosive is squashed against the surface of the target and spreads out to form a disc or pat of explosive The inert material helps prevent premature detonation of the plastic explosive and sustains the impact pressure and temperature 3 2 Milliseconds later the base fuze detonates the explosive creating a shock wave that owing to its large surface area and direct contact with the target is transmitted through the material In the metal armour of a tank the compression shock wave is conducted through the armour to the point where it reaches the metal air interface the hollow crew compartment where some of the energy is reflected as a tension wave a phenomenon called impulsive loading At the point where the compression and tension waves intersect a high stress zone is created in the metal causing pieces of steel to be projected off the interior wall at high velocity 2 nbsp Shell design charge fuze shell nbsp Function of HESH munitionEffect Edit This fragmentation by blast wave is known as scabbing or spalling with the fragments termed scabsor spall 4 2 Depending upon the armour thickness a heavy piece of target material 4 to 10 kg for a 120 mm round used in Arjun MBT 4 can separate out from the other end of the target with supersonic velocities This spall is sufficient to permanently damage the essentials of a tank igniting the ammunition or fuel storage and severely damaging the crew to achieve a total kill of the target In general the higher the armour thickness the higher the scab weight will be 2 The fragmentation achieved by impulsive loading of armour block by a HESH round is more lethal than are similar high explosive rounds 4 2 clarification needed nbsp Front and back side of armour block impacted by HESH rounds nbsp Light spalling damage caused by HESH rounds nbsp Heavy spalling damage caused by HESH roundsUse Edit HESH rounds are mostly fired from guns with rifled rather than smoothbored barrels Rifling causes a projectile to spin creating centrifugal force and improving accuracy This makes a HESH shell more effective on impact by increasing the surface area of contact for the explosive the faster the spin the larger the contact patch will be Contrarily the centrifugal force resulting from rifling would decrease the penetrating power of a high explosive anti tank HEAT shaped charge warhead by tending to disperse the shaped charge jet HESH shells are not specifically designed to perforate the armour of vehicles unlike HEAT rounds with their shaped charge jets HESH shells rely instead on transmitting a shock wave through solid steel armour 2 5 HESH ammunition has good general purpose use being effective against most targets though the round is generally used at relatively low velocities because high velocity excessively disperses the pat of explosive While only effective against tanks without spaced armour or spall liners the round is still favoured for combat demolition purposes The flattened high velocity explosive pat can destroy concrete constructions much faster than a HEAT round which is designed to penetrate armour and without the dangerous fragmentation of a traditional high explosive HE fragmentation round 3 History EditHESH was developed by Dennistoun Burney in the 1940s for the British war effort originally as an anti fortification wallbuster munition for use against concrete He also led British developments in recoilless rifles as a means to deliver the shell An early application of the HESH principle post WWII was the L9 165 mm demolition gun fitted to AVRE combat engineer vehicles 6 HESH was found to be surprisingly effective against metallic armour as well as concrete structures It was widely used as a primary round in most large calibre rifled guns Users Edit nbsp Japanese 105 mm Type B HESH shell for the Royal Ordnance L7 rifled gun in use on the Type 74 tank nbsp US Navy technicians building a munitions disposal for HESH HEP shellsHESH rounds were fielded mainly by the British Army as the main explosive round of its main battle tanks during the Cold War It was also used by other military forces especially those that acquired the early post World War II British 105 mm Royal Ordnance L7A1 tank gun including Germany India Israel and Sweden Since the 1970s HESH ammunition has increasingly lost favour as armour designs have trended towards layered composites of hard metal and heat resistant materials This type of armour conducts shock waves poorly Anti spalling devices spall liners made of materials such as Kevlar are commonly fitted to the interior surface of modern armoured vehicles to minimise spalling effects 7 Another reason for the declining use of HESH rounds is the preference of most armies for smoothbore guns due to the use of high power armour piercing fin stabilized discarding sabot which significantly decrease the rifled barrel life British Challenger 1 and Challenger 2 tanks and India s Arjun tank which has the same rifled 120 mm gun as the UK s MBTs use HESH rounds as their primary ammunition Amongst other ammunition types the Stryker Mobile Gun System variant is to be equipped with a 105 mm HESH round for demolition and bunker busting purposes Argentina s TAM medium tanks Canada s Leopard C1 and Leopard C2 main battle tanks all of which mount the same 105 mm gun as the Centurion the Australian Leopard AS1 main battle tank and the Chinese VT 4 main battle tank which mounts a 125 mm smoothbore gun all use HESH rounds HESH rounds are also carried by armoured engineer vehicles they are typically intended for use against fortifications rather than armoured fighting vehicles A 165 mm HESH round is used by the United States Army for the main gun of the M728 combat engineer vehicle an M60 tank equipped with a bulldozer blade Similarly the UK s Centurion AVRE was equipped with a short 165 mm gun solely for a 29 kg HESH shell See also EditMunroe effect High explosive incendiaryReferences Edit Explosive weapon effects web pdf PDF gichd org p 22 Retrieved 2021 10 10 a b c d e f g Deshpande P U Prabhu V D Prabhakaran K V 2003 10 01 Impulsive Loading of Armour by High Explosive Squash Head Munition Defence Science Journal 53 4 357 365 doi 10 14429 dsj 53 2282 a b c Roy S N Armament Research amp Development Establishment Kirkee 29 March 2014 Some design and functional aspects of squash head shell Defence Science Journal 12 1 55 58 doi 10 14429 dsj 12 6834 inactive 1 August 2023 a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a CS1 maint DOI inactive as of August 2023 link CS1 maint multiple names authors list link a b c 120 mm High Explosive Squash Head Mark I Defence Research and Development Organisation DRDO Government of India Design aspects of 120 mm HESH round for Arjun MBT 115 mm 120 mm amp 125 mm Tank Guns GICHD Retrieved 2021 10 04 Edgerton David 2012 Britain s war machine weapons resources and experts in the Second World War London Penguin Chapter 8 Boffins ISBN 978 0 14 102610 7 OCLC 761379325 Modern Anti Tank Ammunition The Ontario Regiment RCAC Museum 2021 07 30 Retrieved 2021 10 02 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title High explosive squash head amp oldid 1177501850, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
