AHEAD ammunition

Cross section of AHEAD 35 mm ammunition

Advanced hit efficiency and destruction (AHEAD) ammunition[1] is a type of airburst round ammunition that releases a cloud of sub-projectiles just ahead of a target, enabling it to engage conventional as well as low, slow and small (LSS) air threats including unmanned aerial vehicles and perform counter rocket, artillery, and mortar duties. The 35 mm variety produced by Oerlikon Contraves splits each projectile into 152 tungsten[2] submunitions "that form a cone-shaped pattern to destroy a target's control surfaces and other vital components".[3] This type of ammunition is listed as an official acronym at the British Ministry of Defence.[4]

  1. ^ Chand, Naresh (2013). "Future Trends in Army Air Defence Systems". SP's Land Forces. No. 5. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  2. ^ https://www.rheinmetall.com/en/products/medium-calibre/medium-calibre-ammunition
  3. ^ "U.S. Navy Completes Initial Testing of Lockheed Martin Naval Gun" (Press release). Lockheed Martin. 3 May 2005. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  4. ^ "Ministry of Defence acronyms and abbreviations" (PDF). gov.uk. 15 August 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2023.