Recent Advances on the Design of Lightweight Dismounted Disruptors

Abstract

In recent decades, there has been an ever-increasing need to reduce the weight of the weapon systems carried by combat personnel in the United States Army. This need is the thrust behind the weight reduction initiative for the disruptor systems used by the Army’s Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) community. This work evaluates the conflict between weight reduction in dismounted disruptors and the dynamic performance of these systems during operation. This work also describes a recently-patented dismounted disruptor system designed to satisfy both the need for system weight reduction without compromising the dynamic performance of the system. The recently-patented disruptor is a variation of the Mk 2-the standard caliber .50 disruptor currently used by EOD teams of all military services in the United States.