SDE are assisting Australian Munitions in the development of an enhanced performance, lead-free 5.56mm small arms ammunition projectile.

Through a combination of small arms ammunition subject matter expertise and application of SDE’s advanced Design, Modelling and Simulation tools, the company is using computer Aided Engineering (CAE) to assess projectile external ballistics, and hard and soft target terminal performance.

The initial stage of the programme, to characterise the performance of existing ammunition natures, was delivered successfully in August 2012. The second phase, due for completion later this year, is to generate and conduct virtual prototyping of a number of projectile design concepts, with the results used directly to inform the down selection process.

Subsequent activities will use similar CAE techniques to provide theoretical optimisation of the chosen design concept prior to physical prototyping and testing.