![Copperhead and tank (explosion)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/Copperhead_and_tank_%28explosion%29.JPEG/1200px-Copperhead_and_tank_%28explosion%29.JPEG)
The M712 Copperhead is a
155 mm
155 mm (6.1 in) is a common, NATO-standard, artillery caliber. It is defined in AOP-29 part 1 with reference to STANAG 4425. It is commonly used in field guns, howitzers, and gun-howitzers.
Land warfare
The caliber originated in France after ...
caliber
In guns, particularly firearms, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel Gauge (firearms) , bore – regardless of how or where the bore is measured and whether the f ...
cannon-launched guided projectile Cannon-launched guided projectiles (CLGP) are precision-guided munitions launched by howitzers, mortars, tank guns, and naval guns. Those projectile main propulsion system is the initial kinetic shoot, directed as much as possible toward the target ...
. It is
a fin-stabilized, terminally
laser guided
Laser guidance directs a robotics system to a target position by means of a laser beam. The laser guidance of a robot is accomplished by projecting a laser light, image processing and communication to improve the accuracy of guidance. The key ide ...
,
explosive
An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An expl ...
shell
Shell may refer to:
Architecture and design
* Shell (structure), a thin structure
** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses
** Thin-shell structure
Science Biology
* Seashell, a hard ou ...
intended to engage hard point targets such as
tank
A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...
s, self-propelled
howitzer
A howitzer () is a long- ranged weapon, falling between a cannon (also known as an artillery gun in the United States), which fires shells at flat trajectories, and a mortar, which fires at high angles of ascent and descent. Howitzers, like ot ...
s or other high-value targets. It may be fired from different
artillery piece
Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, ...
s, such as the
M114 M114 or M-114 may refer to:
* M114 155 mm howitzer, a towed howitzer used by the United States Army
* M114 armored fighting vehicle, a Vietnam War-era tracked armored fighting vehicle, used by the United States Army
* M114 bomb, a U.S. 4 lb. biologi ...
,
M109,
M198
The M198 is a medium-sized, towed 155 mm artillery piece, developed for service with the United States Army and Marine Corps. It was commissioned to be a replacement for the World War II-era M114 155 mm howitzer. It was designed and prototyped at ...
,
M777
The M777 howitzer is a British towed 155 mm artillery piece in the howitzer class. It is used by the ground forces of Australia, Canada, Colombia, India, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, and the United States. It was first used in combat during the US w ...
and
CAESAR
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman people, Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caes ...
howitzers. The projectile has a minimum
range
Range may refer to:
Geography
* Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra)
** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands
* Range, a term used to i ...
of 3 km and a maximum range of 16 km.
Development
The concept for Copperhead was originally made in 1970 by engineers at the US Army's Rodman Laboratories, with feasibility studies conducted in 1971. In 1972 development contracts were awarded to
Martin Marietta
The Martin Marietta Corporation was an American company founded in 1961 through the merger of Glenn L. Martin Company and American-Marietta Corporation. In 1995, it merged with Lockheed Corporation to form Lockheed Martin.
History
Martin Mari ...
and
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American technology company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that designs and manufactures semiconductors and various integrated circuits, which it sells to electronics designers and manufacturers globall ...
. After testing Martin Marietta was chosen for continued development through the 1970s.
Inventories of March 1, 1995:
* US Army : Usable : 16,095 - Unusable 0 - Total : 16,095
* USMC : Usable : 1,873 - Unusable : 894 - Total : 2,767
Description
At and long, Copperhead is longer and heavier than traditional 155mm ammunition.
The warhead assembly consists of a
shaped charge
A shaped charge is an explosive charge shaped to form an explosively formed penetrator (EFP) to focus the effect of the explosive's energy. Different types of shaped charges are used for various purposes such as cutting and forming metal, init ...
loaded with of
Composition B
Composition B, colloquially Comp B, is an explosive consisting of castable mixtures of RDX and TNT. It is used as the main explosive filling in artillery projectiles, rockets, land mines, hand grenades and various other munitions. It was also use ...
.
For Copperhead to function, the target must be illuminated with a
laser designator
A laser designator is a laser light source which is used to designate a target. Laser designators provide targeting for laser-guided bombs, missiles, or precision artillery munitions, such as the Paveway series of bombs, AGM-114 Hellfire, or ...
. Once the laser signal is detected, the on-board
guidance system
A guidance system is a virtual or physical device, or a group of devices implementing a controlling the movement of a ship, aircraft, missile, rocket, satellite, or any other moving object. Guidance is the process of calculating the changes in po ...
will operate the steering vanes to maneuver the projectile to the target. The Copperhead targeting
logic
Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premises ...
is designed to ensure (1) that the optical system will always be able to detect the target, and (2) that once the target has been detected there will be sufficient time and
velocity
Velocity is the directional speed of an object in motion as an indication of its rate of change in position as observed from a particular frame of reference and as measured by a particular standard of time (e.g. northbound). Velocity is a ...
to maneuver to hit the target. Copperhead must be below any cloud cover at critical parts of the trajectory, and there must be sufficient visibility to ensure that when the target is acquired the projectile will have sufficient time to maneuver.
Modes of operation
![Copperhead CLGP axial section with description](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Copperhead_CLGP_axial_section_with_description.svg)
Copperhead has two modes of operation:
ballistic
Ballistics may refer to:
Science
* Ballistics, the science that deals with the motion, behavior, and effects of projectiles
** Forensic ballistics, the science of analyzing firearm usage in crimes
** Internal ballistics, the study of the proce ...
mode and glide mode. Ballistic mode is used where the cloud ceiling is high and visibility is good. When the projectile is 3,000 meters from the target, the guidance vanes extend, the target is acquired, and then the on-board guidance system adjusts the guidance vanes to maneuver onto the target.
Glide mode is used when the
cloud
In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets, frozen crystals, or other particles suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space. Water or various other chemicals may co ...
ceiling and/or the
visibility
The visibility is the measure of the distance at which an object or light can be clearly discerned. In meteorology it depends on the transparency of the surrounding air and as such, it is unchanging no matter the ambient light level or time of ...
is too low to permit the use of the ballistic mode. A glide mode
trajectory
A trajectory or flight path is the path that an object with mass in motion follows through space as a function of time. In classical mechanics, a trajectory is defined by Hamiltonian mechanics via canonical coordinates; hence, a complete traj ...
consists of two phases: a ballistic phase and a glide phase. At a predetermined point along the trajectory, the guidance vanes extend and there is a transition from ballistic phase to glide phase. Glide phase targeting logic is designed to ensure the largest possible angle of fall permitted by the
cloud cover
Cloud cover (also known as cloudiness, cloudage, or cloud amount) refers to the fraction of the sky obscured by clouds on average when observed from a particular location. Okta is the usual unit for measurement of the cloud cover. The cloud co ...
and the visibility. The target is acquired when the projectile is close enough to detect the laser illumination or when the projectile emerges from the cloud cover, whichever event occurs later in the trajectory. When a trajectory solution has been obtained, time-to-target and
terminal velocity
Terminal velocity is the maximum velocity (speed) attainable by an object as it falls through a fluid (air is the most common example). It occurs when the sum of the drag force (''Fd'') and the buoyancy is equal to the downward force of gravit ...
are checked to ensure that there will be enough time to maneuver and that the projectile is
aerodynamic
Aerodynamics, from grc, ἀήρ ''aero'' (air) + grc, δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of the motion of air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dyn ...
ally stable—that it will not
stall while maneuvering.
Initially the laser designation was intended to be performed by the
MQM-105 Aquila
The Lockheed MQM-105 Aquila (Eagle) was the first small battlefield drone developed in the United States during the 1970s to act as a target designator for the US Army.
Early history
The modern history of the Army's battlefield drone efforts ...
pilotless drone.
Combat history
Copperhead was used in
Operation Desert Storm
Operation or Operations may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity
* Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory
* ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...
, with 90 rounds fired against hardened Iraqi fortifications and radar stations. One of these strikes caused an Iraqi unit to surrender.
[
Lebanese Armed Forces fired several hundred Copperhead shells at ]ISIL
An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...
targets in east Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
during the Qalamoun offensive (July–August 2017)
The Qalamoun offensive (2017) was a military operation launched by Hezbollah, the Syrian Armed Forces, and later the Lebanese Armed Forces, against members of Tahrir al-Sham and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant on the Lebanon–Syria bord ...
. At least five technicals
Technicals may refer to:
* Technical (vehicle), an improvised fighting vehicle often used in civil conflict
* TECHNICALS, a clothing brand owned by Blacks Leisure Group
See also
* Technical (disambiguation)
* Cambridge Technicals
Cambridge Tech ...
, five occupied buildings, and several troop formations were struck with precision.
The US replenished 827 shells after the successful completion of the offensive.
Operators
Current operators
* United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
* Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
* Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
* Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
* Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
Former operators
* Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
– now replaced by SMArt 155
SMArt 155 is a German 155 mm artillery round, designed for a long range, indirect fire top attack role against armoured vehicles. The SMArt carrier shell contains two submunitions with infrared sensor and millimeter wave radar, which descen ...
.
See also
* M982 Excalibur
The M982 Excalibur (previously XM982) is a 155 mm extended-range guided artillery shell developed in a collaborative effort between the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and the United States Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering ...
* M1156 Precision Guidance Kit
The M1156 Precision Guidance Kit (PGK), formerly XM1156, is a U.S. Army-designed precision guidance system to turn existing 155 mm artillery shells into smart weapons.
* Krasnopol
* XM395 Precision Guided Mortar Munition
The XM395 Precision Guided Mortar Munition (PGMM) is a 120 mm guided mortar round developed by Alliant Techsystems.
Design
Based on Orbital ATK's Precision Guidance Kit for 155 mm artillery projectiles, XM395 combines GPS guidance and di ...
* Bofors/Nexter Bonus
155 BONUS (''BOfors NUtating Shell)'' is a 155 mm artillery cluster round, developed in cooperation between Bofors of Sweden and Nexter of France, designed for a long range, indirect fire top attack role against armoured vehicles. Development on B ...
* Strix mortar round
References
Sources
* Yenne, William, Yenne, Bill, ''Attack of the Drones: A History of Unmanned Aerial Combat'', Zenith Imprint, 2004 {{ISBN, 0-7603-1825-5
155mm artillery shells
Anti-tank rounds
Guided artillery shells
Military equipment introduced in the 1980s