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Evaluation and assessment of weapons and weapon systems should be based upon military usefulness. The military usefulness should, similarly, be a basis for the assessment of procedures and processes used for military activities. Even advanced systems may fail when meeting military usefulness criteria.

The wide use of light anti-tank weapons, such as rocket propelled grenades and the scattering of sub-munitions in different conflict areas have made the clearance of shaped charge ammunition a frequent task. However, unlike other hazards, for shaped charges scientifically based procedures for the design and establishment of protective measures do not exist. Procedures applied in the field are more often than not based upon ad hoc solutions.

To close the gap and find adequate methods for clearance of shaped charge ammunition, a tool has been developed at NDC to meet criteria from military usefulness and adopted to the prevalent operational conditions applicable to military missions, in particular:

    *   Complexity should be low bearing in mind the expertise available in the field.

    *   The time factor is essential both from strictly military aspects and from economic point of view.

    *   Information access. Data needed may be obscured or lacking.

    *   Simple construction that may be used with locally available material and equipment.

In addition to meeting the criteria for military usefulness, such a tool should address the different effects from shaped charges e.g. blast and fragments and – in particular - effects from the jet generated.

The principles for the tool are described in the paper. Of particular interest is the influence of the stand-off distance for the risk reducing methods.

The risks from different effects at different distances and in different directions are analyzed and discussed. In particular, the slug from the jet is shown to be decisive for the hazardous area when protective measures are inadequate.