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SE3113 Combat Systems Engineering II- Conventional Weapons

This is a survey of conventional military weapons technology. It introduces the student to both the effects that conventional weapons (artillery, bombs, and missiles) can produce as well as the technologies needed by weapons systems to create those effects. It is designed to provide familiarization of the student with critical weapons concepts that are necessary for enlightened examination of both technology development and military planning.

Prerequisite

SE1002

Lecture Hours

4

Lab Hours

2

Course Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: 

  • Explain the fundamentals of explosives, their characteristics, properties, and potential uses. 
  • Explain the concepts of blast, fragmentation and fusing for conventional warheads.  Calculate blast overpressure, dynamic pressure, and fragment velocities as well as predict damage probabilities for various target and warhead types. 
  • Describe the stress-strain behavior of ductile and brittle materials and the fundamental principles of armor protection, armor penetration, and their interplay. 
  • Explain basic principles of internal and external ballistics and their application to projectile weapons. 
  • Apply expressions for the four basic aerodynamic forces to determine critical projectile parameters such as maximum velocity, sustained velocity, takeoff velocity, etc. 
  • Explain the variety of propulsion systems used for projectile weapons, to include rocket propulsion, jet propulsion, and electromagnetic propulsion. 
  • Describe the various launching system options for projectile weapons. 
  • Explain the variety of guidance systems and the basic principles governing their function. 
  • Explain the basics behind control systems and the means of correcting motion using actuators.  
  • Describe the principal components of a laser system and describe their functions. 
  • Compare and contrast the construction, operation, and effects of high energy laser weapons and high-power microwave weapons. 
  • Describe the operating principles and organization of a typical adaptive optics system. 
  • Describe the concepts and application of directed energy weapons, to include generation of target effects and propagation path impacts and considerations.