HTI-J-1000 High Temperature Incendiary J-1000

The High Temperature Incendiary J-1000 was a FY-2002 ACTD proposal to demonstrate a High Temperature Incendiary J-1000 Kinetic Energy Penetrator Warhead for JASSM, JSOW and JDAM to destroy Biological and Chemical manufacturing and storage facilities. This joint industry-government proposal was submitted by NAVSEA Indian Head and Lockheed Martin Advanced Projects. The Navy, working with the Air Armament Center and the JDAM Program Office, would be the lead service for the HTI-J-1000 weapon.

The ACTD would demonstrate a J-1000 kinetic energy penetrator warhead variant which would employ a two-stage high-temperature incendiary fill using high-temperature and active chemical systems to defeat biological and chemical agents. The concept minimizes collateral damage in destroying surface and buried hardened biological and chemical agent storage and manufacturing facilities. The High-Temperature Incendiary-J-1000 (HTI-J-1000), would be delivered by JSOW, JDAM and JASSM. The joint Industry Government ACTD would be involve the Navy and Air Force supported by DTRA working with Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control-Advanced Projects.

The concept would eliminate a national level combat capability void. It would enable the attack of surface and buried hardened chemical and biological agent storage and manufacturing facilities and targets of mass destruction by JASSM, JSOW and JDAM, with minimum collateral damage to the surrounding area. It used a high-temperature incendiary (HTI) "thermo-corrosive" filling adapted from Special Operations Command's classified 'Vulcan Fire' program. The munition used 300 lb (136kg) of a two-stage reactive and pelletised mix of "titanium boron lithium perchlorate intermetallic high-temperature fill" that burns at 1,000ºF for a long time and with low overpressure so any remnants are not ejected from the facility. As a by-product of the HTI reaction, 35 lb (15.8kg) of disinfecting monatomic chlorine and monatomic fluorine gas, along with hydrochloric and hydrofluoric acid, will be left to destroy any remaining BW agents.

The HTI-J-1000 kinetic energy penetrator warhead used a two-stage titanium boron lithium perchlorate intermetallic high-temperature fill to destroy biological and chemical targets. The reacting fill would be delivered into the target, with thermally fuzed grenades, at the point determined by the HTI-J-1000 deceleration sensing fuze. The 300-pound pelletized reactive fill would react titanium with boron to form titanium di-boride and then react it with lithium perchlorate to raise the temperature within the target to 1000 degrees Fahrenheit. The persistent reaction would also generate 35 pounds of monatomic chlorine and monatomic fluorine, along with hydrochloric and hydrofluoric acid, which would act as a sporacide against biological agents. The biological nutrient and storage tanks and chemical agent storage tanks would be opened by the thermally fuzed explosively driven impactors which would detonate when the temperature in the target reaches 450 degrees Fahrenheit. The warhead fill reacts at a very low overpressure to preclude forcing the released agent from the target while it was being killed. The released biological agent was killed using a combination of high temperature and the active chlorine and fluorine chemical systems. It would destroy the chemical agent released by the low pressure explosively driven impactors by using a wicking material integral to the fill distributed throughout the target to wick the pooled chemical agent up to allow it to be ignited and burned.

The HTI-J-1000 could be delivered by JASSM, JSOW and JDAM. The HTI-J-1000 would penetrate into the target as a kinetic energy penetrator. The deceleration sensing smart fuze would command warhead event at a predetermined point in the target. At this point the fill would be shock initiated and ejected from the HTI-J-1000 warhead using a base ejection system which ejects the fill rearward at the same velocity at which the HTI-J-1000 kinetic energy penetrator was moving forward. The base ejection system processor would integrate outputs from the deceleration sensing fuze to estimate the forward velocity of the HTI-J-1000 penetrator. When the deceleration sensing fuze commanded warhead event the C/D bulkhead would be cut by flexible linear shaped charges to separate the tail assembly and aft HTI-J-1000 warhead bulkhead from the penetrator. The ejection system used a programmable concept which could select any one of fifteen ejection velocities, using four explosive charges sized on a base two system which could be fired in combination to give yield ejection velocities of Vo to 15Vo in steps of Vo. This allows the payload to be ejected rearward at the same velocity at which the penetrator was moving forward to "deposit" the reacting fill into the target at the appropriate point as the penetrator passes. This enables the hightemperature incendiary HTI-J-1000 to engage both soft surface targets and deeply buried hardened targets. The HTI-J-1000 could also be used to defeat conventional targets such as POL refineries, weapon bunkers, buildings and other targets which are susceptible to fire.

The Phase I effort would include Subscale agent response testing against harmless bacillus thuringiensis (BT) as the simulant for anthrax and triethyl phosphate (TEP) as the simulant for G agents such as TABUN, SARIN, SOMAN, and GF and against actual biological and chemical agents to define lethality scaling between the simulants and the actual agents. Full-size agent response testing against BT and TEP to confirm the lethality of the titanium-boron-lithium-perchlorate HTI fill. The testing would test binary and pelletized grains for the fill to determine which should be moved into the following phase.

The Phase II effort would include: Agent response testing to confirm the HTI-J-1000 engagement sequence. Testing would be conducted with HTI-J-1000 prototype concepts to demonstrate the fragmenting grenade opening concept and the defeat of the BT biological agent stimulant and the TEP chemical agent simulation. HTI-J-1000 warhead design analysis, design and design testing. The design of the warhead would be accomplished including the pelletized or binary grain fill, ejection system with the decelerating integrating logic, decelerating sensing fuze and fragmenting grenade dispensing system. Full-size static tests would be conducted to verify correct functionality of the HTI-J-1000 system. HTI-J-1000 sled testing against staged concrete walls to establish the ability of the ejection system logic to estimate the forward velocity and eject the payload rearward at the correct ejection velocity. The ability to ignite the fill would also be verified. A modified GPS guidance law definition and simulation which would allow the HTI-J-1000 trajectory to include enhancement constraints which would minimize the control force required to deliver the HTI-J-1000 to the target and would maximize the terminal velocity, while delivering the weapon at a vertical descent with zero angle of attack to maximize penetration capability. The guidance law would adapt the Navy Hydra-7 guidance law to the HTI-J-1000 as a cost economy. Definition of modifications to the deceleration sensing fuze.

The Phase III effort would: HTI-J-1000 warhead design update and conduct of a second series of sled tests to confirm proper warhead function. Fabrication of flight test warheads and integration of the warheads into the JDAM-1000 guidance kit. The effort would also modify the guidance law in the existing JDAM-1000 guidance kit to allow vertical delivery of the HTI-J-1000 penetrator at zero angle of attack.

Flight testing of eight HTI-J-1000 warheads would be at the Southwest Test Range. Two would be flown against soft biological targets, two against hard biological agent targets, two against soft chemical agent targets and two against hardened chemical agent targets. The targets would use BT and TEP simulants to address all sequences associated with the defeat of the targets. The level of collateral damage would be estimated by monitoring the levels of TEP and BT outside the target during test.

The Phase IV effort would: Fabricate up to twenty weapons as residual assets. The Phase IV effort would provide up to 20 weapons as residual assets to the program. The transition plan would integrate the warhead into weapon systems which are currently used by Navy and Air Force strike aircraft and planned for incorporation into the Joint Strike Fighter capable of carrying the J-1000 warhead. This includes JDAM, JSOW and JASSM.

The program was proposed as a joint Government-Industry team effort. The industry participant would be Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control Advanced Projects. They would be responsible for the concept development, HTI-J-1000 warhead design including the HTI fill ejection system, and the fabrication of test hardware to support agent response and flight test efforts. The government participant would be NAVSEA Indian Head which would modify the hard target deceleration sensing fuze and provide the HTI fill for the J-1000 warhead. The team would be supported by the USAF Air Armament Center and JDAM Program Office providing JDAM assets, reusable target simulated agent response testing, sled testing and flight testing at the Southwest Test Range. The Weapons Counter-Proliferation Agency would provide an independent assessment of the effectiveness of the concept against standard biological and chemical target sets using their agent defeat models. The Defense Threat Reduction would support the effort by defining chemical and biological targets, agent defeat criterion and actual biological and agent response testing. DTRA would also provide Southwest Test Range soft and chemical and biological targets for test and estimating the level of agent collateral damage. The program would also include the Special Operational Forces Command to allow their consideration of the HTI-J-1000 fill for agent defeat in their classified weapon concepts to defeat targets of mass destruction. The U.S. Army Special Programs office would support SOCOM in the assessment of the effectiveness of these alternate weapon system approaches. The 30-month funding profile by government fiscal year is: FY-02 $894,000 : FY-03 $9,226,000 : FY-04 $10,050,000 : Total Cost $22,000,000

The program adapts the HTI fill from the Army Special Programs-SOCOM-DTRA $6 Million Vulcan Fire Program and the delivery vehicle from USAF J-1000 warhead to minimize technical risk. The principle concern was the ability to open tanks, kill the agent at a high rate and defeat the target in a sequence which will minimize collateral damage.

The concept was related to Precision Engagement. The proposed effort does not specifically address a Future Navy Capability Spike because it represents the first conventional weapons capability concept which has the potential to allow the Navy and the Air Force to engage high value chemical and biological agent targets. With a solution identified, it becomes possible to define a Future Navy Capability in an area which currently represents a national war fighting capability void - the purpose of the ACTD concept.