PHOTOS
(click to enlarge) |
A Soldier from 1st Platoon, Battery A, 2nd Battalion,
12th Field Artillery, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team,
2nd Infantry Division, from Fort Lewis, Wash., holds up
a 12-inch copper plate
used to pierce armored vehicles when fired from an
explosively formed projectile. The plate was part of a
large EFP cache discovered in a home in Husseiniyah,
Iraq, Oct. 31, 2007. |
An explosive ordnance disposal specialist member
pulls a ready-to-fire explosively formed penetrator from
a hidden room in a house in Sa'ada Village, Iraq, Oct.
23, 2007. Working off a tip from a concerned local
citizen, coalition forces discovered a massive weapons
cache in the home. |
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Explosively Formed Penetrator (EFP) |
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An explosively formed penetrator (EFP) is a
shaped charge explosive device designed to
penetrate armor. In the Iraq War, EFPs are a
form of improvised explosive device (IED)
employed by Iraqi insurgents that
uses molten copper to primarily destroy heavily armored
Coalition vehicles. EFP devices are made by
packing a short, wide tube with explosives,
capping one end and placing a detonator on
that end, and placing a concave copper plate
on the other end. When the EFP is triggered,
the explosives in the tube partly melts the
copper plate into a projectile shaped like a
slug. The slug can penetrate armor and spray
the inside of the targeted vehicle with metal
fragments. |
Shown are copper plates and bomb-making
materials used for creating explosively formed
penetrators captured by Iraqi army soldiers
from the 44th Brigade, 11th Iraqi Army
Division, in the northern area of Sadr City,
Oct. 28, 2008. The large munitions capture was
the second in less than a week by the IA
soldiers, which included 160 blocks of C4
explosives, 34 complete explosively formed
penetrators, 53 copper plates, 40 shaped
plates for EFPs, three presses and a punch,
all believed to be used for making EFPs, and
14 107 mm rockets. |
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Explosively Formed Penetrator (EFP)
