Summary
Technology
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Fuzes go multi-role and smart.
Twenty-five years ago the watch on the reader's wrist was almost certainly based on a clockwork mechanism, but if its present-day counterpart uses a conventional clock dial rather than a digital display, the mechanism that drives those hands will probably be based on electronic circuitry and a quartz crystal. In a world of fuzes, there is a similar trend, in which electronics is proving a relatively inexpensive replacement for mechanical assemblies, particularly clockwork timing mechanisms.
The fuzes fitted to artillery projectiles have traditionally been of four types--point-detonating, point-detonating delay, time and proximity. In all classes, electronics are gradually replacing mechanical sub-systems, while it is becoming possible to incorporate all four operating modes into a single multi-purpose design. Yet despite these general trends, the traditional single or dual-mode fuze is still being developed, and the traditional mechanical fuze continues to have advantages in some roles. One of the problems, resulting from replacing mechanical subsystems with electronics, is that the fuze now needs a source of electrical power. That source must be able...See the full content of this document
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