ItaliAn Agency for Ballistics

Ageing is The problem

Munitions require to be submitted to In Service Surveillance (I.S.S.) activities in order to assess their safety during storage, handling, transportation, use and disposal as they contain components and substances which are subject to ageing. Artillery munitions suffer propellant stabilizer depletion due to evaporation (particularly when subjected to unsuitable environmental storage conditions) and, with no exceptions, it is only a matter of time before ageing leads propelling charges to hazardous states with self-heating and possible spontaneous ignition.

The ageing of ammunition has the potential of decreasing safety and reliability; while safety is mainly related to the chemical degradation of the explosive, reliability is related to rough handling and environmental conditions (oxidisation, deformation, loosening, etc.) and to the short service life of some components (battery, capacitors, etc.).

I.S.S. is The solution

The Italian Agency for Ballistics performs, at the Customer’s facilities, the following activities in order to assess the physical, chemical and performance degradation of the munitions:

1. visual external inspection of stored munitions;

2. disassembling of samples with inspection of each component (cartridge case, primer, propellant, HE projectile, etc.);

3. stability test for each propellant lot (assessment of residual stabilizer) before and after artificial ageing for predictive stability  assessment;

4. firing tests, with assessment of performance for primer, propellant, fuze;

5. Ammo renewal activities, if required, with restoration of ammo boxes and marking and, where necessary, fuze replacement.

and moreover, on the job  training for the Customer’s ISS Teams.

Benefits

Þ Increase in safety due to the dismissal of hazardous components with reduction of accidents and increased safety in ammo handling, transport, storage and employing.

Þ Increase in effectiveness on target due to the dismissal of unserviceable munitions and replacement of expired components; reduction of misfires.

Þ costs saving due to the possibility of using old munitions with the same levels of safety and effectiveness of new ones by means of renewal activities, customers buy only what they actually need.

 

Why?

The routine technical surveillance of ammunition is necessary to ensure serviceability and to mitigate the risk from accidental explosions caused by undetected deterioration of components of the ammunition itself. The concept of shelf life, the length of time an item of ammunition may be stored before the performance of that ammunition degrades, is not a reliable indicator of the safety and suitability of ammunition in storage. The safety and stability of ammunition and explosives can only be established by a comprehensive “ammunition surveillance” system involving both physical inspection by trained personnel and chemical analysis

Goal of the Ammunition Surveillance is:

¨ to ensure safety during transport, storage, handling, use, disposal;

¨ to ensure reliability in view of: functioning, performance, to reduce to number of unexploded ordnances (UXO‘s)

 

The Italian Agency for Ballistics can  support its client by offering a complete set of skilness and experience in the field of Ammo Surveillance. 

Example:  “In my logistic cycle some items containing explosive are present; they have been stationary for years and I wish to start controls in order to receive guarantee on their good functioning and to evaluate their safety condition, I need to define an appropriate In Service Surveillance Programme for new and old ammunition/weapons but inside my organization there are not the resources to face the problem.”

The activities provided are articulated as follows:

¨ Information gathering 

The Agency performs a visual inspection of the items to be studied and gather all the available technical information.

¨ ISS Program definition

The Agency defines the needs. It prepare a list with all it is required to set up the Programme in terms of human resources, test equipment, samples to be tested, material, etc.  

¨ Work procedures definition

In this phase the Agency prepares the list of all the activities that have to be performed for the ISS Program execution and, for each of them, prepares the relative work procedures.

¨  Execution and evaluation

The Agency supports the customer during the Program execution and evaluates the test results in order to define the safety condition of the items under monitoring.

AMMO In Service Surveillance  (I.S.S.)

Ammo visual inspection

Ammo disassembling

Stability test

AGENZIA BALISTICA ITALIANA

Via Europa 16, cap. 19020  Follo (SP) - Italy

Cod. Fiscale BRSGNN64E06H501B  P.IVA: 01405330117

Tel: +39.0187599129

E-mail: bresciani@agenziabalistica.it

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- ITalian agency for Ballistics -

Firing test evaluation