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A kinetic energy penetrator (KE penetrator) is a weapon that damages a target by slamming into it at high speed using kinetic energy. The most common form is the armor piercing fin stabilized discard sabot (APFSDS), used to penetrate tank armor. The US military developed a flechette-based rifle for soldiers, but it never performed well enough due to ammunition jamming and overheating. The US military unveiled a massive KE weapon, a Trident II missile with a tungsten rod payload, as part of the “Prompt Global Strike” program. KE piercing weapons are often seen in science fiction, and the ultimate form would be a relativistic projectile.
A kinetic energy penetrator, or KE penetrator, is a projectile weapon that does not explode, but damages the target by slamming into it at high speed. (Through kinetic energy alone.) The primary modern use of a KE penetrator is to penetrate tank armour. In the military, the term armor piercing fin stabilized discard sabot (APFSDS) is used for the more common form of KE penetrator. The APFSDS is essentially a super-fast (1.4 – 1.9 km/sec) arrow with a depleted uranium alloy tip. In addition to slamming into a target at incredible speeds, DU ignites from the energy of the impact and subsequent contact with air, making this KE penetrator a very effective weapon for eliminating tanks.
Other kinetic energy penetrators have been researched and developed by the military. The Special Purpose Individual Weapon program was a KE penetration project pursued by US Army researchers and engineers for a couple of decades. The goal of this program was to create a functioning flechette-based rifle for soldiers to use in the field. There are several military motivations for developing KE penetrators for small arms. First, the small high-velocity darts (flechettes) have greater penetrating power than traditional projectiles. Secondly, they have less recoil than bullets, allowing for better accuracy in automatic fire. Finally, darts weigh less, allowing an infantryman to carry more rounds. Unfortunately, although many billions have been spent on the project, a portable KE penetrator has never performed well enough to see the light of day. Ammunition jamming was a frequent problem, as was overheating.
Recently, the US military unveiled a massive kinetic energy weapon: a Trident II missile with a tungsten rod payload designed to re-enter the atmosphere at extremely high speeds, scattering kinetic buckshot everywhere and causing damage similar to the most large conventional explosives. This is part of the “Prompt Global Strike” program launched to find non-nuclear alternatives for the strategic first strike capability. Since a nuclear-tipped Trident II and a KE Trident II penetrator both look the same from the outside, its hypothetical use may actually increase the chance of a nuclear engagement rather than reduce it, its intended purpose. Russian President Vladimir Putin mentioned this in a speech in May 2006, saying: “The launch of such a missile could … provoke a full-scale counterattack using strategic nuclear forces.”
KE piercing weapons are often seen in science fiction, in both small and large forms. Small arms, often known as “needle guns,” make their appearance in cyberpunk fiction. Larger KE penetrators, such as space rocks hurled from orbit, feature in some science fiction stories and may indeed be developed in the long-term future, despite treaties against the militarization of space. The ultimate form of the KE penetrator would be a relativistic projectile, an object accelerated into a target near the speed of light. Fortunately, accelerating an object like this would require an enormous amount of space and energy.
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