Cross section of the AHEAD 35 mm ammunition

Advanced Hit Efficiency And Destruction (AHEAD) ammunition[1] is a type of airburst round ammunition that releases a cloud of sub-projectiles just ahead of a target, enabling it to engage conventional as well as low, slow and small (LSS) air threats including unmanned aerial vehicles and perform counter rocket, artillery, and mortar duties. The 35 mm variety produced by Oerlikon Contraves splits each projectile into 152 tungsten[2] submunitions "that form a cone-shaped pattern to destroy a target's control surfaces and other vital components".[3] This type of ammunition is listed as an official acronym at the British Ministry of Defence.[4]

Types

There were in 2017 four types of 35 mm AHEAD ammunition:[5]

  • PMD062 with a payload of 152 sub-projectiles,
  • PMD330 with 497 sub-projectiles,
  • PMD375 with 860 sub-projectiles,
  • PMD428 with more than 600 sub-projectiles

History

AHEAD ammunition was developed as early as 1993.[6]

In 2011, the government of the Republic of China in Taiwan procured itself a Skyguard system, which is based on the AHEAD ammunition.[7]

In 2012, AHEAD was delivered to the German Air Force by Rheinmetall for their MANTIS Air Defence System.[8]

At the 2018 Euronaval trade show, the Rheinmetall Oerlikon Millennium Gun was noted as able to fire AHEAD ammunition.[9]

In 2018, AHEAD ammunition capable Oerlikon Revolver Guns were proposed to the Egyptian Ministry of Defense by the manufacturer, in order to update its air defense system.[10]

In January 2019, the South African Defence Force boasted about its upgraded ability to fire AHEAD ammunition at airborne targets via a networked multi-gun emplacement.[11]

In March 2021, Rheinmetall Air Defence unveiled the Skyranger 30, an air defense turret that uses a 30 mm gun firing a 30 mm version of the AHEAD projectile.[12]

In June 2021, Rheinmetall tested its 35 mm Revolver Gun against drone swarms with the use of AHEAD ammunition. Firing PMD 428 rounds,[13][14] an eight-drone swarm was neutralized with an 18-round burst, most of them being destroyed with the first 6 rounds.[15]

In summer 2022, AHEAD was the subject of study by a group of Chinese scientists.[16]

In August 2022, the munitions were listed on the scrapped purchase order for the badly-needed towed air defence gun missile systems (ADGMS) of the Indian Ministry of Defence.[17] It seemed the matter excited quite some controversy around this time.[18]

In October 2022, the munitions were listed as one of the technical requirements for a gun that would be procured by the Indian MoD.[19]

References

  1. ↑ Chand, Naresh (2013). "Future Trends in Army Air Defence Systems". SP's Land Forces. No. 5. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  2. ↑ https://www.rheinmetall.com/en/products/medium-calibre/medium-calibre-ammunition
  3. ↑ "U.S. Navy Completes Initial Testing of Lockheed Martin Naval Gun" (Press release). Lockheed Martin. 3 May 2005. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  4. ↑ "Ministry of Defence acronyms and abbreviations" (PDF). gov.uk. 15 August 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  5. ↑ "German weapon exports". World Defense.
  6. ↑ "Shotgun Bullets". Popular Mechanics. Vol. 170, no. 4. April 1993. p. 21. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  7. ↑ Cole, J. Michael (28 December 2011). "Air Force upgrading 'Skyguard' system". Taipei Times. p. 1. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  8. ↑ "Rheinmetall delivers Mantis air defence system to German Air Force". Airforce Technology. 26 November 2012. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  9. ↑ Vavasseur, Xavier (22 October 2018). "Euronaval 2018: Which Naval Guns and Missiles for FLOTLOG ?". Navy Recognition. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  10. ↑ Valpolini, Paolo (3 December 2018). "Rheinmetall proposal for Egyptian GBAD". EDR Magazine. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  11. ↑ "Keeping the skies safe - 35 mm Air Defence Artillery logistic support" (Press release). Sigma Logistic Solutions. 29 January 2019. Retrieved 28 April 2023 – via defenceWeb.
  12. ↑ Valpolini, Paolo (3 March 2021). "Rheinmetall Air Defence unveils its Skyranger 30 (upgraded)". EDR Magazine. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  13. ↑ Boguslavsky, Eyal (14 July 2021). "Rheinmetall tests Revolver Gun against drone swarms". Israel Defense. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  14. ↑ Fiorenza, Nicholas (9 July 2021). "Rheinmetall tests Revolver Gun Mk 3 against UAV swarms". Janes. Archived from the original on 12 July 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  15. ↑ Valpolini, Paolo (1 July 2022). "Countering RAM, drones and other flying objects with highly mobile assets, Rheinmetall's solutions". EDR Magazine. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  16. ↑ Wang, Ge; Zhang, Chun; Lin, Zhiwei; Wang, Baohua; Tan, Hu; Chen, Chen (June 2022). 多束定向预制破片弹开舱距离研究 [Research on's Opening Distance of AHEAD Ammunition]. Acta Armamentarii (in Chinese). 43 (S1): 115–120. doi:10.12382/bgxb.2022.A001. ISSN 1000-1093.
  17. ↑ Bedi, Rahul (27 August 2022). "Indian Army's Persistent Penchant for 'Marvel Comics Weaponry' Has Again Cost it Dear". The Wire. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  18. ↑ Chand, Naresh (17 July 2021). "Air Defence Gun Systems - Light at the end of the Barrel". SP's MAI. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  19. ↑ "Request for Proposal by Ministry of Defence Government of India for Procurement of Quantity 220 Air Defence Guns and 141576 Rounds Ammunition (37,440 Advanced and 1,04,136 Standard Rounds of Ammunition)" (PDF). mod.gov.in. 7 October 2022. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
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