Aaron Fox
Well-known member
This isn't a contact explosive, this is a proximity fuse round so that quarter-pound of warhead isn't going to wait until it makes contact, it'll explode within its kill radius (which against aircraft is something on the order of a hundred meters if an old article I read ages ago is any indication). To give you an idea of how much of a game-changer proximity fuses are, they reduced ammo consumption immensely in practically every field they've been put in. Artillery? PF shells turned being in cover like trenches to be particularly deadly and turned any infantry in the open into a hamburger reliably. Proximity fuses in AA systems made them far superior to those using time-fused or contact ammo. Anti-Air Missiles use proximity fuses for their warheads (unless they're ABM systems, then they're contact-only) and they're deadly if they get into range (and the only reason their kill percentages look low is that they're chasing aircraft and thus the tyranny of the rocket equation comes into play).But does the 40mm have enough explosive to make it worthwhile? And what of range?
Is this just your personal opinion or you have other sources?
Navweaps list .25 pounds explosive for the HEI round and these guns were meant as hit to kill so I'm little skeptical of your claim that they're a game changer. Especially when there seems a lack of follow up by the 35mm guns.
The biggest limiter of the proximity fuse has been the fuse's size. Back in the day, 75mm was the smallest they could fit a proximity fuse into. By the 1970s, breakthroughs in electronics allowed the proximity fuse to be useful in a 40mm round which led Bofors to produce the HEPF shell for the 40mm.
It is usable against aircraft, missiles, rockets, really anything that flies because of the tyranny of physics (i.e. you can't armor things that fly really well without making them targets).And AHEAD sounds like it meant for anti missile work as it is like a shotgun round. It is not a proximity fuse round.