Ukraine boosts artillery power with French RALEC F3 contactless fuses
With Ukraine currently experiencing a lack of artillery shells, any improvement in their lethality and precision is highly valuable. Using more sophisticated fuses is one way to enhance artillery performance, as they can be easily attached to the tips of shells.
Usually, simple impact fuses that trigger a TNT charge upon impact with the ground are used. However, there are also more advanced options available. These include modules with GPS and INS navigation systems and a flight path correction section, like the M1156 PGK (Precision Guidance Kit), as reported by Łukasz Michalik, a journalist for Wirtualna Polska, and simpler non-contact fuses like the RALEC F3.
RALEC F3 fuses turn ordinary artillery into a real "rain of death"
The RALEC F3 fuses can be programmed, at the shooter's discretion, to explode either on impact with the target or a few metres above the ground. It's important to note that classical artillery shells are not the most effective against robust field fortifications, as sufficiently thick layers of earth or sandbags can absorb the shrapnel produced by the bursting of the shell's steel body.
However, if the explosion occurs in the air, the shrapnel does not encounter the aforementioned barriers that could shield soldiers in trenches. It's worth highlighting that artillery shrapnel, depending on its distance, can have enough force to penetrate several dozen millimetres of steel, making it capable of penetrating helmets or bulletproof vests.
The sole method of protection, as with M30A1 rockets equipped with an Alternative Warhead (AW) that releases a payload of 182,000 tungsten balls, is to be in a dugout or an armoured vehicle at the time of the attack.
