Testing and Evaluation

DET has broad experience in the testing and evaluation of ballistic devices, including shaped charges and related devices, bulk and fragmenting explosive charges, and armor systems.

DET’s test engineers have the training and government licenses to safely handle and detonate high-explosive devices and to operate flash radiography and other instrumentation. In general, we will reduce and analyze test results in-house, often using proprietary special-purpose software. DET has established arrangements with several government and commercial ballistic test sites. Our engineers can select the best site for a particular test program and will attend all tests to ensure they are conducted in accordance with program requirements.

High-speed movie of a rod-shaped projectile emerging normally from the rear of a soil target.

A projectile emerging from the rear of a soil target after being diverted by the effect of trajectory instability.

     

Radiography enables the visualization of an actual shaped-charge jet. These examples show jets from liners having poor (left) and excellent metallurgical properties, which affect how long the jet can stretch before breaking up into particles. A longer jet penetrates deeper.