Reusable, Soft Catch System for Large Projectiles Traveling at High Speeds

The Army has a need to catch and recover projectiles after launch without damage to assess internal ballistics, design strength, and the function of the critical munition components (e.g. deployable fins and fuzes) . There is currently no system that can catch and recover large munitions traveling at high speeds without damaging the projectile. Current materials used to soft catch projectiles consist of water, sand, hay, ballistic gelatin, brittle foams, and low density materials such as vermiculite and polystyrene pellets. These materials are inadequate in that they are designed to catch much smaller projectiles traveling at much lower speeds. Luna Innovations partnered with Southwest Research Institute will utilize extensive experience in polymeric ballistic material development to produce a soft catch system for large high-speed projectiles.  A computational model based on experimentally obtained physical material properties will be developed in Phase I followed by ballistic demonstration of subscale prototype systems in Phase II. . At the end of the project an environmentally robust, reusable, easily maintained, and modular soft catch system for large projectiles will be delivered to the U.S. Army.