The impulsive acceleration of protective devices or terminal ballistics interception elements like massive armor plates can only be realized by two means of pro-pulsion: chemical stored energy such as high explosives or other propellants and electric power which is converted preferably into kinetic energy by single-stage launcher assemblies like pancake coil systems. This kind of pro-pulsion has been used for more than 12 years at ZSL in the field of active armor. Furthermore, the electric launcher technology with controlled multipartite single-stage coil assemblies represents a new supplementary topic with a high growth potential which is not yet exhausted.A separate test facility with modular structured energy packs (3 x 50 kJ) has been assembled as a basic instal-lation for testing reinforced or armoured coils and mul-tiple-coil systems. The presented paper describes the typi-cal ratings of the energy packs and the modular concep-tual design for a steerable two-dimensional launcher system.

The impulsive acceleration of active protection elements such as armor plates or other terminal ballistics interception devices can preferably be realized by single-stage electromagnetic launcher systems using pancake coils. The technology with controlled multipartite coil assemblies represents a new supplementary topic in the entire field of ballistics with a high growth potential which is not yet exhausted.During the year 1999 a separate test facility with modular structured energy packs (3 50 kJ) has been built up at ISL as a basic installation for testing reinforced or armored coils and multiple-coil systems. Each power supply module comprises one energy storage capacitor, a thyristor stack adapted to maximum charging voltage, a corresponding number of crow-bar diodes and a well-designed coaxial power line serving as a pulse forming network and current limiting reactor. To provide high flexibility these modules can be triggered independently by fiber optic transmitters with an overall jitter lower than 50 ns. Three packs are designed for a maximum charging voltage of 10.75 kV. First measurements have shown that peak currents up to 120 kA per module and current slew rates of more than 2.5 kA/ s can be generated.The paper presented here describes the test facility and the prototype arrangement of a steerable launcher system with two orthogonally assembled pancake coils fed by two of the modular pulsed power supply units described above. The selection of the launch direction is defined by a short delay (only a few microseconds) between the trigger pulses, so that the usual propagation delay time implied by (mechanical) inertia will be avoided. Further on the first investigations and results concerning steerability and electromechanical efficiency will be presented.

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