Air Weapons: May 21, 2002

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Israel's recent helicopter operations in the West Bank have revealed a need for a new warhead on their helicopter launched anti-tank missiles (TOW and NT-D fired from AH-1s and Hellfires fired from AH-64s). The anti-tank warheads don't do enough damage to insure that all enemy troops in a room will be killed. A new warhead, optimized to produce blast and fragments is needed. The anti-tank warheads use a shaped charge that creates some blast and fragments, but mainly produces a narrow jet of hot plasma for penetrating armor.