Safe fuzing of submunitions is possible; to render a submunition as harmless as a piece of dead wood is feasible, as Instalaza has proved it with its new Mat 120 cargo bomb. In fact, Armada's Editor discovered that this Spanish company has several aces up its sleeve. (What's Up?).

Nested in the very heart of Zaragoza, a city whose opulent architecture sharply contrasts with the desolate northern Spanish landscape that surrounds it, sits Instalaza, a privately owned company the history of which can be traced back to the late WW II years. Initially involved in `bazooka' firing mechanisms, rifle grenades and shaped charges, the company embarked on the development and production of shoulder-fired anti-armour weapons.

The C90 thus became the company's `bread and butter' item during the 1990s. The system never ceased to evolve to the extent that it is now offered with a dual-charge anti-bunker warhead -- the BK -- and a night sight using Gen II or Gen III image intensifier. Designated VN38-C, this sight can be removed from the weapon and used as a nighttime observation monocular.

However, what appears to be Instalaza's current hallmark is an almost obsessive drive to offer what must be amongst the safest weapons in their category. This is true of both its Alhambra and Mat 120 fuzing systems, which are all systematically tested prior to their integration in their respective equipments.

In the Alhambra hand grenade, for example, the igniter is located outside the charge and can only reach its operational position within the 115 grams of high explosive and be triggered if the handle is fully released and allowed to swing a full upwards arc of 70 degrees. This motion allows the induction power generator to feed two timers, one controlling the throwing time delay of 3.5 seconds and subsequently the firing switch at four seconds. Exactly the same electronic fuze is used (and can be reused about a hundred times) in the training hand grenade which only pops a harmless cracker. The Alhambra is used by the Spanish forces and has been exported to two Nato and two non-Nato countries.

Turning to the Mat 120, this smoothbore 120 mm mortar cargo shell carries 21 anti-armour top-attack shaped-charge and fragmentation submunitions, each of which is fitted with an electronic fuze of its own. After canister ejection, a stabilising strap enables the submunitions to fly down vertically and activate the timing fuze. This action detonates the warhead after a determined descent time whether the impact fuze has functioned or not, after 20 seconds. Should this also fail, the available power drains out after a few minutes, totally neutralising the warhead. Again, as with the Alhambra, all the functions of every single fuze are tested on the production line.

Also worthy of notice, the Mat 120, an in-house development, has conquered the difficult feat of winning an export contract before scoring at home. The 34mm shaped charges are guaranteed to overcome 140 mm of steel armour, although it has consistently proven to be able to burn through 150 mm plates during tests.

Another interesting and recent Instalaza development is the Alcotan 100. Initially starting life as the EN8906 Spanish Army project, it was to be put on ice due to lack of state funds. Instalaza then decided to fund the remainder of the development and create the Alcotan 100, a 600-metre-range anti-armour weapon currently in its final stages of qualification and about to be introduced into two Nato forces. As the name implies, the warhead carries a 100 mm calibre shaped charge, but it is preceded by a 40 mm shaped charge add-on armour detonator.

Firing an unguided weapon at a moving target at anything beyond 200 metres becomes something of a challenge to say the least. This is where the Vosel fire control system that straddles the canister comes into play -- a unit that is simplicity itself to use. Equipped with a Gen II or III tube (depending on export destination), a laser rangefinder and a north sensor, the system is aimed at the target, the latter being kept within the reticule for about two seconds; at this point range is determined and so is the slew rate allowing the Vosel to automatically offer an new aiming point within the sight that provides both the required elevation and lead angle. A simulator demonstrated that if the target was properly aimed, a bull's eye couldn't be missed -- although failure could be accounted on strong lateral wind or a sudden change of pace of the target after launch.

Last but not least the Alcotan 100 has a Davies principle counterbalance firing mass. The author was presented with a film showing the weapon being fired whilst hanging from two cables under a rig and recoiling a couple of centimetres at the most. The Alcotan can also be fired from confined spaces, like from the window of a large room.

It goes without saying that any production involving explosives is carried out with clinical rigour in various out-of-town facilities. The Spanish firm also operates a very large firing range in the middle of the barren countryside which includes an orthogonal X-ray flash test bench, allowing researchers to analyse blast growth of warheads. Of the 125-strong workforce, no less than 27 employees are now involved within the management and research and development sectors. As mentioned above, Instalaza is a privately owned company with the inevitable quest for perfection that often goes along with this status. This reflects in many simple details, like placing the trigger button of the C90 spot on the weapon's centre of gravity to minimize the effect of a slight movement on aiming accuracy.

RELATED ARTICLE: Bursting onto the scene with ATK.

Received too late for inclusion into the medium-calibre ammunition article in this issue (Packing a Punch -- Cannon Ammunition), it is reported that ATK (Alliant TechSystems) has recently stepped wholeheartedly into the air bursting munitions market with the successful testing of five 30 mm high-explosive (HE) rounds during test firings at the ATK proving ground in Elk River, Minnesota. The tests effectively demonstrated the lethality and accuracy of air-burst technology in cannon-fired supersonic rounds. The demonstration climaxed the co-operative independent research & development programme between the ATK Ammunition Systems and ATK Precision Fuze companies. The two companies' synergystic collaberation has also resulted in an advanced air-burst fuze that combines timing fuze technology with the turns-count fuzing technology that was originally developed for use with the US Army's Objective Individual Combat Weapon (OICW).

The OICW also completed a series of test firings more recently that included the system's 20 mm HE ammunition coupled to an advanced air-burst fuze. During the tests more than 60 air-burst rounds were fired, many to ranges of 500 metres. The air-burst tests helped demonstrate the progress of the OICW programme.