"Paul J. Adam" wrote in message ...
In message , Kevin
Brooks writes
"Paul Austin" wrote in message
. ..
Britain has done development on large capacitor banks that pass very
large currents through shaped charge jets hitting an armored vehicle,
melting the jet before it can hit the inner armo(u)r. They say that
scaled up versions might be able to do the same to long-rod
penetrators.

"Melt the jet"? OFCS, that jet is already at extremely high
temperature, courtesy of its being shoved inside out and pushed into a
"jet" moving at thousands of meters per second. "Melting" it does
nothing to change its mass, and it is the combination of that mass and
attendant velocity that makes a shaped charge (read up on the Munroe
Effect) work.

It's an electrical effect. Dump a lot of electricity into the copper
jet, and you have current and motion: which produces a powerful magnetic
field, so the jet repels itself and flies apart. Or that's the way my
physics says it ought to work.

Works quite nicely in a carefully-controlled experiment. Might even be
useful in a fielded vehicle eventually. Won't arrive tomorrow, though.

http://www.dstl.gov.uk/pr/press/pr2002/01-07-02.htm

Using an EM field to distort/dissipate the jet I can buy; I was taking
exception to the idea of "melting" it (it is pretty much "melted" at
the point the liner is inverted by the explosive filler, and in fact
behaves as a liquid at this point). God only knows what the effect of
that kind of EM field will have on the crew, much less all of that
nifty solid-state equipment, not to mention the difficulty in
discharging the capacitors at *exactly* the right instant (I'd guess
the tolerence would be measured in much less than a millisecond, as
that jet will cover what, at least 5 or so meters in that MS?).

Brooks