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Posted: 3/28/2024 7:17:04 PM EDT
[#1]
So when does it actually become UXO?
If the Army issues some soldiers grenades, are they already UXO? Or do they magically become UXO when they fail to return them to their armory?  |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 7:29:26 PM EDT
[#2]
According to this:
https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA422504.pdf  Attached FileIt doesn't become UXO until "armed or otherwise prepared for action". So a bunch of people freak out and destroy explosive ordnance that isn't actually UXO, apparently. |
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TX, USA
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Posted: 3/28/2024 7:40:56 PM EDT
[#3]
A friend of the family lost his grandfather. The grandfather had a huge collection of arms and militaria in the basement, most of it in a walk-in safe. After the will, family had locksmith come out to open the safe door to find that it had a magnetic switch from an alarm system leading back inside the safe. Apparently it was all rigged up to some claymores inside, but the way it was rigged they said it most likely would not have gone off
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USA
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Posted: 3/28/2024 7:48:46 PM EDT
[#4]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By oulufinn: Dad's best friend, an army vet, had a large shell of some sort that he thought wasn't live, as a decoration hanging on his clothes line pole next to his garage. It blew a good size chunk of the garage wall out one cold 20 below night in the late 60's or early 70's. The house took some shrapnel, but if it had been hanging on the other pole, their bedrooms would have taken a heck of a hit. Old Marvin took a lot of shit for that over the years! So extreme cold made the air dry and static did it? |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 7:55:46 PM EDT
[#5]
Friend who's into guns as much as I am worked at a surplus store as a kid. He discovered a pineapple grenade in a pallet of surplus ammo cans they got from the ARMY. The owner of the store made him put on a helmet and they went out behind the store to see if it worked.
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FL, USA
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Posted: 3/28/2024 8:01:59 PM EDT
[#6]
Responded to a call at an elementary school in Southern Utah. They hired a new teacher, and he had some concerns about the item they were using as a hall pass. It was a 60mm Illum mortar.
Similar to this one but with the words "Hall Pass" stenciled on the side. https://dygtyjqp7pi0m.cloudfront.net/i/32803/28217512_1.jpg?v=8D51E59049E5080 Everyone knew it was OK because they'd been using it for years. We responded, shot an x-ray and sure enough it had a live candle in it. Can't imagine how many kids slammed it into things, dropped it, and God knows what over the years. |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 8:02:54 PM EDT
[#7]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By ACDer: There was the meteorite worth 100k that was discovered being used as a doorstop. https://www.space.com/42084-valuable-michigan-meteorite-used-as-doorstop.html In Iraq a friend of a friend found a gold bar being used as a doorstop. It was filthy and everyone just assumed it was a brick or a thick piece of tile. |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 8:05:18 PM EDT
[#8]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By packinheavy: Not the US, but there is the urban legend of a British Grand Slam bomb being used as a gate guardian at a RAF base for 15 years before it was found to be live. Cool story, but it is uncorroborated by anything official. Poland detonated one just a few years ago. |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 8:08:24 PM EDT
[#9]
Every autumn as the snow birds arrived there would be flyers about lick on Bart Simpson tattoos that were laced with LSD, kids would lick them to apply and get dosed.
Finally Sheriff Joe had to come out and say he could not find a single report of this ever having happened, people still believed it. |
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IA, USA
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Posted: 3/28/2024 8:09:06 PM EDT
[Last Edit: thunderw21]
[#10]
Funny, I use this WW2 6" naval shell as a door stop at my shop. It's empty, though.
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Posted: 3/28/2024 8:12:27 PM EDT
[#11]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By daemon734: Well an EOD team leader is an E6 or an E7, and an E4 is uncertified and has absolutely no authority whatsoever on that scene, so there's a plot hole here Fill it in with whatever you want. It was an E4 SPC that was sent out from Ft. Hood to a town in cen-tex about 2hr drive away in a government van. |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 8:21:14 PM EDT
[Last Edit: daemon734]
[#12]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By dyezak: Fill it in with whatever you want. It was an E4 SPC that was sent out from Ft. Hood to a town in cen-tex about 2hr drive away in a government van. If he was EOD he didn't come by himself. Not only is there a regulation stating two people have to be present on any incident, the team leader has to be an NCO. An E4 couldn't even draw explosives. Not only am I Army EOD, I was stationed at Fort Hood as well. |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 8:22:43 PM EDT
[Last Edit: -Blue-]
[#13]
Story from my wifes uncle-
Back during the Vietnam war, uncles dad was over seas fighting the war, along with a couple of the other neighborhood dads. Every week or every other week his dad would send him a care package in the mail mostly comic books and shit like that. Coming home from school one of the other neighborhood kids is playing with a mortar that his dad had just shipped home. Excited that he had a new comic book shipment in, uncle raced home and found his comic books on the front porch. He walked inside, closed the door and sat down with the door to his back and started opening up his care package. BOOM! The neighbor kid had set the mortar off, killing himself and severely injuring his brother. What the fuck was his dad thinking sending that home? Edit to add pic of uncles dad with a hat I got him. Dude served in Korea and Vietnam. He’s 94 now.  Attached File |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 8:22:48 PM EDT
[#14]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By KitBuilder: So when does it actually become UXO? If the Army issues some soldiers grenades, are they already UXO? Or do they magically become UXO when they fail to return them to their armory? It's UXO when armed. It's explosive ordnance when not. |
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TX, USA
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Posted: 3/28/2024 8:28:37 PM EDT
[#15]
The one that always bugged me was a neighbor that passed away in the 80's.
He apparently had some nifty bringbacks from vietnam. Nifty enough to have feds and army crawling all over his house after he died. I think one of his kids called the cops... In a just world, people would dispose of your grenades and shoot your machineguns at your funeral. |
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USA
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Posted: 3/28/2024 8:28:59 PM EDT
[#16]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By daemon734: If he was EOD he didn't come by himself. Not only is there a regulation stating two people have to be present on any incident, the team leader has to be an NCO. An E4 couldn't even draw explosives. Not only am I Army EOD, I was stationed at Fort Hood as well. Maybe the story (or one like it) is the reason for the regulation. |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 8:30:20 PM EDT
[Last Edit: daemon734]
[#17]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By vtmarine: Maybe the story (or one like it) is the reason for the regulation. Nope, none of that changed in 2004, or even decades prior. At no point has the Army sent an E4 off post with explosives by themselves. Off post incidents also typically have the 2 person team plus a duty officer (E7/LT or higher) present. |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 8:38:29 PM EDT
[#18]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By daemon734: Nope, none of that changed in 2004, or even decades prior. At no point has the Army sent an E4 off post with explosives by themselves. Off post incidents also typically have the 2 person team plus a duty officer (E7/LT or higher) present. Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By daemon734: Originally Posted By vtmarine: Maybe the story (or one like it) is the reason for the regulation. Nope, none of that changed in 2004, or even decades prior. At no point has the Army sent an E4 off post with explosives by themselves. Off post incidents also typically have the 2 person team plus a duty officer (E7/LT or higher) present. I was an EOD Company Commander from 1980 until 1983 and all response teams at that time and since then consisted of two personnel with the team leader being an E-6 or above. @vtmarine, you have been told a story that isn't accurate. |
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USA
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Posted: 3/28/2024 8:42:46 PM EDT
[#19]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By daemon734: Nope, none of that changed in 2004, or even decades prior. At no point has the Army sent an E4 off post with explosives by themselves. Off post incidents also typically have the 2 person team plus a duty officer (E7/LT or higher) present. I missed the date. I agree it is unlikely in modern times. We had a story about an incident in the 1980s where a Marine died in the desert after somebody failed to take accountability properly. I assumed it was made up, until one night I was doing OOD, opened the duty desk and there was a copy of the investigation report in the desk. |
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USA
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Posted: 3/28/2024 8:43:45 PM EDT
[#20]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Brundoggie: I was an EOD Company Commander from 1980 until 1983 and all response teams at that time and since then consisted of two personnel with the team leader being an E-6 or above. @vtmarine, you have been told a story that isn't accurate. Not my story. Read the thread. |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 8:44:24 PM EDT
[#21]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By daemon734: It's UXO when armed. It's explosive ordnance when not. After years of EOD time in the active military I have been a civilian UXO technician (and blaster) from 1998 until present. The accepted DoD and EPA definition is basically what Daemon says but the full definition is: Military munitions that: have been primed, fuzed, armed, or otherwise prepared for action; have been fired, dropped, launched, projected, or placed in such a manner as to constitute a hazard to operations, installations, personnel, or materials and; remain unexploded whether by malfunction, design, or any other cause. |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 8:47:02 PM EDT
[#22]
My favorite urban legends are:
1. “We are from the Federal Government and are here to help.” 2. “The check is in the mail.” 3. “I will still love you in the morning.” |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 8:48:30 PM EDT
[Last Edit: Brundoggie]
[#23]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By vtmarine: Not my story. Read the thread. Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By vtmarine: Originally Posted By Brundoggie: I was an EOD Company Commander from 1980 until 1983 and all response teams at that time and since then consisted of two personnel with the team leader being an E-6 or above. @vtmarine, you have been told a story that isn't accurate. Not my story. Read the thread. My bad, I was responding to you because of your speculation. It is @dyezak that told you a story that wasn't accurate. |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 8:50:05 PM EDT
[Last Edit: jollyg83]
[#24]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By laxman09: I remember reading that recently. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/450791/1_Irqbz57ypBnuGTuqmbkBXw_jpeg-3171899.JPG Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By laxman09: Originally Posted By ACDer: There was the meteorite worth 100k that was discovered being used as a doorstop. https://www.space.com/42084-valuable-michigan-meteorite-used-as-doorstop.html I remember reading that recently. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/450791/1_Irqbz57ypBnuGTuqmbkBXw_jpeg-3171899.JPG A meteorite crashed into my doctor’s office after hours. Struck the waiting room area, where I normally sit. I coulda been kilt. He donated it instead of cashing in. https://www.space.com/7811-meteorite-crashes-virginia-doctor-office.html |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 9:31:17 PM EDT
[Last Edit: Backscatter]
[#25]
One of my uncles was an engineer in Vietnam. He drove a cement truck and built roads and whatnot. It was a good job for him. After his tour was over and he rotated home to Fort Benning, he was somehow placed with an EOD team. I have no idea why or how he got assigned to that position. He is a great guy but really not the kind of guy who should be placed in charge of any explosive bigger than a Black Cat. As he tells it, one day he was out in the field with his guys doing EOD shit, I think blowing up UXO on a range somewhere, and he saw something on the ground. As he describes it, a metal baseball with fins/louvers on it. I assume it was a BLU 26. He thought it looked cool, so he picked it up and tossed it in the back of his deuce and a half. He drove around all day with that thing bouncing around and rolling into a few cans of C4 in the back of the truck. The other guys were riding in a Jeep in front of him, so it was just him in the truck. At the end of the day, he went to turn in the unused C4 and his Sgt. saw the submunition just hanging out in the back of the truck. He said the Sgt. came unglued and read him the riot act, asking him if he knew what the hell that thing was. I don't think I've heard what happened after that, but I'm sure it wasn't good.
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Posted: 3/28/2024 10:26:29 PM EDT
[#26]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Backscatter: One of my uncles was an engineer in Vietnam. He drove a cement truck and built roads and whatnot. It was a good job for him. After his tour was over and he rotated home to Fort Benning, he was somehow placed with an EOD team. I have no idea why or how he got assigned to that position. He is a great guy but really not the kind of guy who should be placed in charge of any explosive bigger than a Black Cat. As he tells it, one day he was out in the field with his guys doing EOD shit, I think blowing up UXO on a range somewhere, and he saw something on the ground. As he describes it, a metal baseball with fins/louvers on it. I assume it was a BLU 26. He thought it looked cool, so he picked it up and tossed it in the back of his deuce and a half. He drove around all day with that thing bouncing around and rolling into a few cans of C4 in the back of the truck. The other guys were riding in a Jeep in front of him, so it was just him in the truck. At the end of the day, he went to turn in the unused C4 and his Sgt. saw the submunition just hanging out in the back of the truck. He said the Sgt. came unglued and read him the riot act, asking him if he knew what the hell that thing was. I don't think I've heard what happened after that, but I'm sure it wasn't good. Back in that era EOD was not not an entry level MOS. To go to EOD school you had to volunteer with an EOD unit, be accepted, and be attached to it until you got a school slot. Many attachees were kicked back to their original units after they were found unworthy. |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 10:32:08 PM EDT
[#27]
My Father told me that my Grandfather who served in the Navy in WWII had live 20mm and other bring backs in his shop. My Grandmother found my dad and his brother banging on them with tools so shortly after Grandpa got rid of all of it.
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Posted: 3/28/2024 10:56:14 PM EDT
[Last Edit: Backscatter]
[#28]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Brundoggie: Back in that era EOD was not not an entry level MOS. To go to EOD school you had to volunteer with an EOD unit, be accepted, and be attached to it until you got a school slot. Many attachees were kicked back to their original units after they were found unworthy. I really don't know how he was "attached", I was never in the military. I think maybe they just needed a guy to drive around a deuce and a half full of C4 and he was it, so they stuck him with them while the real EOD guys drove around in the Jeep and blew shit up. He was in no way an EOD tech. Like I said, he is not the kind of guy you want to handle anything bigger than a Balck Cat. ETA: I will ask him more about it the next time I see him. |
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TX, USA
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Posted: 3/28/2024 11:27:01 PM EDT
[#29]
Originally Posted By eurotrash: Have you heard any urban legends people insist are true? Over the years, I’ve heard a version of this story from 3 unrelated people. It goes something like this: My grandfather owned a hardware store for many years. He fought in WWII and kept souvenirs around the store, in particular, was a piece of metal he used as a door stopper. One day, a customer told him “You know that’s a bomb, right?” My grandfather didn’t believe him and said “Yeah right.” The customer insisted it was and that he call the authorities to dispose of it. Still not believing the customer, my grandfather called it in. Sure enough, the disposal team told him it was a mine. My grandfather’s face turned white. The team took it to a field and blew it up. It left a crater the size of a bus. Here's a story that's absolutely true. Back in the mid 70s, I was a little kid and my great grandma lived in an old farmhouse near Florence, TX; not too far from Ft. Hood. If the weather was warmer than 60, she would have the kitchen door open with just a screen door - no AC. She would prop the door open with this big bullet looking thing. About 3 1/2" - 4" diameter and 9 - 10" long. It was heavy, probably 20# or so. I would play with it whenever I was over there, just cause it was a cool, giant bullet. It had a hole in the bottom of it the size of a quarter. The hole was about finger deep, and you could stick a pencil in it and scrape out silver powder. It wasn't until I was in my late 20s or early 30s that I was thinking about it and realized what it was. Have no idea what happened to it. |
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Posted: 3/28/2024 11:49:59 PM EDT
[#30]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By DADGAD: There's always the one about the catfish at the bottom of the dam the size of a Volkswagen. Not sure why it's always compared to a Volkswagen. You should see how big they just downstream of Possum Kingdom Lake on the Brazos. 
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Posted: 3/28/2024 11:55:17 PM EDT
[#31]
Local historical news story around 1920 (I've seen an read multiple original accounts, I just can't remember the specific year at the moment) an unexploded shell sat on a porch as a doorstop for about a year before it blew up and killed a bunch of kids. One story surmised that one of the kids whacked it with a croquet mallet which set it off, but there's no real proof of that. True story though.
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Posted: 3/29/2024 12:10:18 AM EDT
[#32]
I have a friend whose house was burning one night. When the fire department arrived, he started preventing them from getting to work on the house. The Chief was getting pretty heated with him over it when three hand grenades cooked off in fairly rapid succession. A couple of guys working the scene recognized the sound for what it was. They didn't complain so much about him slowing them down at that point. His wife and kids were out of the house and he felt quite strongly that nobody needed to get hurt fighting a fire that was going to fight back.
As far as anyone can ascertain, the grenades were somehow liberated from the USMC during the late 80's. It was kind of a touchy subject. I thought it was nearly impossible to rip off something like that but apparently where there's a will there's a way. Wound up costing him almost everything he'd ever had. |
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Posted: 3/29/2024 12:12:08 AM EDT
[#33]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By TheLookingGlass: Remember the old one about not swimming within 30 minutes of eating or you would get a cramp and drown? LoL what bullshit we use to believe before the internet. My grandma was a firm believer of that. She absolutely would not let us swim if we had eaten recently. |
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Posted: 3/29/2024 12:16:04 AM EDT
[#34]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By M14chud: Filed firing pin full auto. At least 3 in my lifetime Ive met that claimed to know of or own. Last one I heard it from claimed it was a Beretta 92 'from the army', others were just AR pattern. When did that start? Who was the first? The last 2 I heard I offered to buy sight unseen to call their bluff...nah, they ain't selling, but they dont bring it up again either, which works too. That reminds me of an army vet I worked with years ago. He said if you stick an M16 safety in a Colt SP-1 it will make it full auto. |
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TX, USA
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Posted: 3/29/2024 12:18:34 AM EDT
[#35]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By akguy1985: My grandma was a firm believer of that. She absolutely would not let us swim if we had eaten recently. Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By akguy1985: Originally Posted By TheLookingGlass: Remember the old one about not swimming within 30 minutes of eating or you would get a cramp and drown? LoL what bullshit we use to believe before the internet. My grandma was a firm believer of that. She absolutely would not let us swim if we had eaten recently. Mine too. My grandad had a small metal stock tank on the back patio for us to swim in. About 2' tall and 8' diameter. We couldn't even get in that thing without waiting 30 minutes!! |
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Posted: 3/29/2024 12:19:17 AM EDT
[#36]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By packinheavy: Not the US, but there is the urban legend of a British Grand Slam bomb being used as a gate guardian at a RAF base for 15 years before it was found to be live. Cool story, but it is uncorroborated by anything official. I heard this one. |
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OR, USA
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Posted: 3/29/2024 12:31:29 AM EDT
[#37]
Had a couple neighbors that were clearing on old nasty girl range near the apartment complex, private contractor EOD guys. HOLY fuck the sheer volume of UXO old stuff btw ww2 and Korean war era stuff was enough to boggle mind that the hillside had not gone up several times over the years.
At the same time they were called to remove a few live WW2 rockets across town that were in a creek. When we were looking for houses one of them they found a small stock pile of live pineapples that grandpa squirreled away. |
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Posted: 3/29/2024 12:39:18 AM EDT
[#38]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By akguy1985: That reminds me of an army vet I worked with years ago. He said if you stick an M16 safety in a Colt SP-1 it will make it full auto. Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By akguy1985: Originally Posted By M14chud: Filed firing pin full auto. At least 3 in my lifetime Ive met that claimed to know of or own. Last one I heard it from claimed it was a Beretta 92 'from the army', others were just AR pattern. When did that start? Who was the first? The last 2 I heard I offered to buy sight unseen to call their bluff...nah, they ain't selling, but they dont bring it up again either, which works too. That reminds me of an army vet I worked with years ago. He said if you stick an M16 safety in a Colt SP-1 it will make it full auto. I was told back in the 80's that there was a magazine that wout make a mini14 full auto.
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FL, USA
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Posted: 3/29/2024 12:47:34 AM EDT
[#39]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By VidaEterna: Door stopper and left a hole the size of a bus don't jive. |
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MN, USA
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Posted: 3/29/2024 1:20:25 AM EDT
[#40]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Elijah1: I have a civil war cannonball slightly smaller than a baseball sitting on my plant shelf… Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Elijah1: Originally Posted By daemon734: Originally Posted By AA717driver: It wasn’t that long ago that I found out canon balls actually exploded. I always thought it was like bowling. Heave the ball and hope you hit something. I’m kinda slow… Some do, some don't. The ones that do often are filled with gunpowder which has become unstable after thousand of moisture and heating/cooling cycles. They like to detonate above people's mantles quite a bit. I have a civil war cannonball slightly smaller than a baseball sitting on my plant shelf… There are stories of people cutting down trees near old civil war battlefields and ending with exploding firewood. I'm assuming the wood was used for bonfire, I can't imagine someone cutting and splitting wood for a stove or fireplace and not noticing a cannonball. What was the smallest explosive cannon ball from the civil war? |
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MN, USA
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Posted: 3/29/2024 1:21:24 AM EDT
[Last Edit: BobP]
[#41]
[duped
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Posted: 3/29/2024 1:32:28 AM EDT
[#42]
Had a neighbor back in Jersey on the Mullica river snag a WW2 Naval mine and put it in his front yard.
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MN, USA
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Posted: 3/29/2024 1:34:49 AM EDT
[#43]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Bunnysriflestock: Had a neighbor back in Jersey on the Mullica river snag a WW2 Naval mine and put it in his front yard. A mine you say 
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TX, USA
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Posted: 3/29/2024 1:45:23 AM EDT
[#44]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By VidaEterna: Door stopper and left a hole the size of a bus don’t jive. lol.....right up there with that catfish almost pulled me up over the side of the boat. ....and.... That dog with jaws bigger than a bear |
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CO, USA
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Posted: 3/29/2024 1:53:50 AM EDT
[#45]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By VidaEterna: Door stopper and left a hole the size of a bus don’t jive. It also doesn’t “jibe”. Not sure what ghetto slang has to do with any of this. |
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SOM
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Posted: 3/29/2024 2:43:05 AM EDT
[#46]
Quote HistoryLong live Ferris Excellent post!!! |
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OH, USA
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Posted: 3/29/2024 2:45:28 AM EDT
[#47]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Vague: They could shoot our ammo in their rifles, but we couldn't shoot theirs. ahhh... the real reason behind the creation of .300BLK |
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UT, USA
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Posted: 3/29/2024 2:50:35 AM EDT
[#48]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By CastleBravo91: "if you take 7 hits of LSD you're legally insane." Over time or all at once? |
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Posted: 3/29/2024 2:56:42 AM EDT
[#49]
I'll tell my Guard units UXO story. I might have told it here before.
It must be all of 20 years ago at this point, we were doing a TOW live fire at Drum. Basically, every year your unit gets issued a bunch of 20+ year old TOW missiles for live fire training and depending on the year and how many missiles are available there's either just enough for just the gunners to fire one each, or there's so many that you have trouble finding anyone who wants to bother shooting off another one. Problem with the old missiles is that they are prone to not functioning entirely as designed. Back then you tended to get a higher ratio of live warheads to cement, and I don't recall if this particular missile was cement or not. So, one missile gets fired, it launches out of the tube, but a couple of the fins don't deploy properly so it buries itself into the dirt a few yards in front of the firing point. The guys recover the missile, throw it in the back of a deuce and it bounces its way back to the unit where it gets mounted on the wall of the unit bar, where it resides for several years. During some building inspection the people inspecting the building freak out at the sight of this TOW missile on the wall of the bar. EOD comes and takes it away. |
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OH, USA
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Posted: 3/29/2024 3:28:45 AM EDT
[Last Edit: Millennial]
[#50]
I worked for years at a facility that had a Oerlikon/Lockheed Millennium Gun in the lobby by the front doors for like a decade... just sitting there affixed to an Airforce pallet like it just rolled off a C130 ramp. Walked by it everyday.
Found out it was real and 100% serviceable. It was one of the company-owned contract demonstrators. From what I understand is Oerlikon made the 35x228mm autocannons (basically a flak cannon at up to 1000rpm) and then Lockheed Martin handled the targeting and fire control where the muzzle brake device measured the muzzle velocity of each individual round and then in turn programmed the round (via RF as it passed through a transmitter ring in the muzzle brake) for when specifically to burst. So as the targets are electro-optically tracked for distance and velocity, the shells (chock full-o-tungsten fragmentation sleeve) are EACH uniquely programmed to burst just ahead of the target - shredding the incoming missiles, rockets, mortars, or targeted aircraft or boats or drones. There were various test targets on display next to it that just looked swiss-cheesed. They had a lot of cool (totally serviceable) things in the labs and in storage and such, but that was certainly the biggest.  Rheinmetall Air Defence: Ahead - Highly effective, programmable ammunition |
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