A FIRST ORDER METHOD FOR ESTIMATING LETHAL AREAS FOR FRAGMENTING MUNITIONS

摘要

There is no specific definition for “lethal area” in the NATO glossary of terms anddefinitions, so one is proposed and developed. Further, this paper outlines amethodology that is based on a number of simplifying assumptions, that allows afairly straightforward approach to predicting lethal areas for fragmentingmunitions, ranging from large calibre high explosive (HE) shells to hand grenadesand automatic cannon rounds. The advantage of this methodology is that it can beused to compare either similar munitions, e.g., bursting shells, or more disparatemunitions, such as shells with anti-personnel grenades or anti-personnel mines.The paper also provides two worked examples: the 105 mm M1 HE round, forwhich a calculated lethal radius of 10.6 m compared favourably with a quotedvalue of 9.6 m and for the M26 hand grenade the corresponding values were 6 mand “greater than 5 m”.