Army Zaps Artillery Rounds with Electricity for Extended Range | Military.com: The U.S. Army is experimenting with electricity to give field artillery rounds extended range.
As part of an Army Science and Technology-funded project, engineers at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey are using electrical charges to give artillerymen greater control over propellants, which would give some long-range artillery rounds extended range, power and versatility.
"If you can control the burn rate and energy output of a propellant with electric voltage, this opens a whole new capability," David Thompson, a chemical engineer and member of the research team, said in a recent Army press release.
The Army uses artillery rounds that have two different types of motors for their extended range propellants. One type is a base bleed motor, which gets some extended range over a normal round and burns right out of gun, Thompson said.
The second type is a rocket-assist motor, which doesn't burn until it gets the top of its flight, before it boosts and increases the velocity of the projectile.
