ABSTRACT
Although shaped charges can trace their origin to the early 1900s (and some authors suggest even further back), it was not until the Second World War that their use proliferated. Monroe in the United States and von Foerster and von Neumann in Europe discovered that a hollow charge, i.e., a block of explosive with a cavity on the target side, caused a deeper penetration than a similar charge that had no cavity. About the time of the Second World War, the combatants determined that if they lined this cavity with a metal and pulled the charge back from the surface, they achieved an even deeper penetration. The penetration depths achieved were on the order of several warhead diameters. These warheads were and still are so effective that they continue to be developed by nearly every nation. It is the goal of this chapter to describe their behavior and analysis.
