High Velocity Projectiles

Hello, I'm working on a thesis regarding kinetic energy weapons. I've talked
to the folks at China Lake and other places. The unclassified part of it is
that there is a problem with high velocity objects. Above mach 4 the objects
start to shatter. The result is that high velocity weapons radiate a lot of
energy into the surrounding environment and not enough into the target... The
penetrator shatters to soon, before pentration begins and the remainder of the
energy is lost as heat... This seems to be the case for objects dropped from
orbit as well. So you might want to keep your explosives around for a while.
Phil P.

Gort, Klaatu barada nikto!