Modern methods and means of technical diagnostics of artillery weapons and prospects for their development

Abstract

The analysis of full-scale military operations in the east of Ukraine indicates an increase in the variety of firing tasks for artillery weapons and the intensity of their execution. This, in turn, requires the maintenance of artillery weapons and systems that ensure their proper operation in a serviceable and ready-to-use condition, as well as the prevention of sudden breakdowns and failures during combat missions.
 Taking into account the influence of the technical condition on the effectiveness and safety of the combat use of artillery weapons, there is a need to improve the methods and means of its diagnosis.
 This article analyzes the available domestic and foreign studies devoted to the development and improvement of methods for diagnosing the technical condition of artillery weapons. Existing devices for measuring, inspecting, evaluating and controlling the technical condition are considered. The existing systematization was expanded, generalization and addition of known methods and tools was carried out. The main possibilities, advantages and disadvantages of known methods, as well as promising directions for further research are determined.
 It has been established that the majority of studies of possible methods of diagnosing the technical condition of artillery weapons are focused mainly on the analysis of the parameters of only the gun barrel and do not consider the ability of the studied methods to assess the technical condition of artillery weapons comprehensively.
 The analysis also showed that despite the large number of existing techniques for diagnosing the technical condition (determining the degree of wear), most of them are not suitable for use directly in field conditions, morally outdated or very expensive.
 In addition, it was determined that the application of the analysis of acoustic and vibration signals that occur during a shot is a promising direction for diagnosing the technical condition of artillery weapons, which potentially has the ability to detect more malfunctions, breakdowns and deviations of technical parameters.