Firing pin and safety and arming mechanism for a penetrating warhead

摘要

A firing assembly for a hard target penetrating warhead is described. The firing assembly includes a safety and arming device with a truncated rotor that is normally retained in a safety position by its setback weight. On acceleration, the setback weight releases the rotor for rotation into a firing position where a pyrotechnical train carried by the rotor is aligned with the firing pin. To prevent over penetration of the pyrotechnical train by the firing pin on high deceleration, the firing pin has a striker with a radial flange that is captive in a chamber in the striker carrier. To prevent retrograde rotation of the rotor to its safety position or high deceleration of the warhead, such as in penetrating a hard target, the bore in the rotor accommodating the pyrotechnical train is chamfered at the entrance end to provide a camming surface that can be engaged by a tapered face on the front of the firing pin. This allows the firing pin to cam the rotor back into position when it has become displaced. The rotor itself is supported in place by a support block engaging the front face of the rotor.