Project Sense and Destroy ARMor, or SADARM, is a United States 'smart'

submunition A cluster munition is a form of air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapon that releases or ejects smaller submunitions. Commonly, this is a cluster bomb that ejects explosive bomblets that are designed to kill personnel and destroy vehic ...

capable of searching for, and destroying

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 e ...

s within a given target area.

History

Beginnings

SADARM development can be traced back to the early 1960s. The original platform for the submunition was the 203 mm M509 Improved Conventional Munition (ICM) projectile, and the concept was demonstrated in the late 1970s. By 1983 the project shifted focus to 155 mm caliber and the target set was changed to

self-propelled howitzers Self-propelled may refer to * Human-powered transport, humans moving themselves (and their cargo) via their own muscle energy * Machines that power their own movement: ** Automobile (from ''auto-'' + ''mobile'', "self-moving") ** Locomotive (fr ...

and other lightly armored vehicles. With approval for engineering development in 1986 the scope was expanded to include larger diameter submunitions in

M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System The M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (M270 MLRS) is an American-developed armored, self-propelled, multiple rocket launcher. The U.S. Army variant of the MLRS vehicle is based on the chassis of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. The first M270s wer ...

(MLRS) rockets. Several successful live-fire tests were conducted in 1989, and production was scheduled for 1994; however, pre-production samples tested in 1993 gave poor results with only nine out of 42 submunitions hitting their targets. Fixes were applied and further testing resulted in 11 hits from 13 submunitions. Low-rate production began in 1995, with further testing successfully conducted in April 1996. Low-rate production continued with a total of 836 projectiles produced, most being expended in various operational tests. With the target threat (howitzers) removed from probable conflict areas due to the

collapse of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

the SADARM program was terminated prior to full-rate production.

Description

The M898 155 mm SADARM shell is fired from a normal 155 mm artillery gun, with a nose-mounted M762/M767

fuze In military munitions, a fuze (sometimes fuse) is the part of the device that initiates function. In some applications, such as torpedoes, a fuze may be identified by function as the exploder. The relative complexity of even the earliest fuze de ...

set to burst at 1,000 m above the target to release two SADARM submunitions. Once the submunition is ejected from the projectile, an initial

ram-air parachute A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag or, in a ram-air parachute, aerodynamic lift. A major application is to support people, for recreation or as a safety device for aviators, who ...

opens to de-spin and slow the submunition. A second "vortex ring" parachute then deploys to slowly spin the submunition, suspending it at approximately 30° from the vertical. As it spins, its sensors sweep a decreasing spiral track beneath the submunition to scan an area about 150 m in diameter. The sensors consist of a

millimeter-wave Extremely high frequency (EHF) is the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) designation for the band of radio frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum from 30 to 300 gigahertz (GHz). It lies between the super high frequency band and th ...

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

, a passive millimeter-wave radiometer and an

infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from aroun ...

telescope. A

magnetometer A magnetometer is a device that measures magnetic field or magnetic dipole moment. Different types of magnetometers measure the direction, strength, or relative change of a magnetic field at a particular location. A compass is one such device, o ...

is used as an aid in arming and aiming. When the submunition detects a target, its 1.5 kg LX-14 explosive charge is detonated to project an

explosively formed penetrator An explosively formed penetrator (EFP), also known as an explosively formed projectile (EFP), a self-forging warhead, or a self-forging fragment, is the product of a shaped charge designed to penetrate armor effectively. As the name suggests, the ...

that has enough energy to penetrate the thin top armor of most

main battle tanks A main battle tank (MBT), also known as a battle tank or universal tank, is a tank that fills the role of armor-protected direct fire and maneuver in many modern armies. Cold War-era development of more powerful engines, better suspension sy ...

up to a range of around 152 m. If the submunition reaches the ground before it finds a target it self-destructs. However, exact penetration power is not listed, being classified in nature. The submunition was also intended to be used in MLRS rockets, with four or six being carried.

Combat history

The system was used for the first time during combat during the 2003 Invasion of Iraq,COVERS
/ref> with a total of 121 rounds reported fired by the 3rd Infantry Division with 48 vehicle kills attributed to 108 M898 SADARM projectiles.

Specifications

* Projectile M898 ** Weight: 44 kg ** Length: 805 mm ** Caliber: 155 mm ** Range (fired from M109A6): 22,500 m * SADARM submunition ** Weight: 11.77 kg ** Warhead: 1.5 kg LX-14 ** Length: 204.4 mm ** Diameter: 147 mm ** Descent rate: 17 m/s ** Scan rate: 456 rpm

Similar systems

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 d ...

* Bofors/Nexter 155 Bonus * 9M55K1

References

{{reflist * Jane's Ammunition Handbook 2003–2004.
XM898 SADARM (Sense and Destroy Armor)

External links

Report on problems with the SADARM project
Anti-tank rounds Military equipment introduced in the 1990s Fire-and-forget weapons Submunitions