Projectile firing apparatus
A barrel assembly with a barrel is provided. The barrel comprises a plurality of external chambers containing respective propellant charges, a plurality of projectiles stacked nose to tail within the barrel and comprising respective expansion spaces for propellant gases, and a control system configured to ignite the propellant charges to create the propellant gases and propel the projectiles sequentially from the barrel. Each projectile has a corresponding external chamber and an expansion space and each chamber comprises a port that conveys propellant gas from the chamber into the expansion space for propulsion of the respective projectile.
1. A barrel assembly comprising:
a barrel comprising a plurality of external chambers containing respective propellant charges;
a plurality of projectiles stacked nose to tail within the barrel and comprising respective expansion spaces for propellant gases;
wherein each projectile corresponds to an external chamber in the barrel and an expansion space, each of said projectiles having a tail structure that determines the respective expansion space in conjunction with the respective trailing projectile, and
wherein each external chamber comprises a port that conveys propellant gas from the external chamber into the expansion space for propulsion of the respective projectile, the tail structure of each projectile having a passage aligned with the port of a respective external chamber for flow of propellant gas from the external chamber into the respective expansion space; and
a control system configured to ignite the propellant charges to create the propellant gases and propel the projectiles sequentially from the barrel.