Destroyer USS The Sullivans Damaged After Missile Explodes After Launch, No Injuries Reported

USNI News ^ | July 22, 2015 | Sam LaGrone

[Rummyfan]

I work for Raytheon and we make a lot of great missiles. I’m sure we’ll get to the reason / source of the failure.

[FReepaholic]

...A cracked solid propellant rocket motor would do it...

This ^^^

I had a friend that worked for Thiokol back in the day designing solid motor nozzles. He would tell me about solid motors and how they could fail.

I actually thought this is what happened when the Challenger accident happened but I later found out the SRBs used a different type of propellant compound than smaller missiles.

[Arm_Bears]

My guess would be that the failure originated in the affirmative-action/equal-opportunity/fags-are-our-friends military.

[Bob]

[speculation from a former FTM1]

I'm thinking that the explosion shattered the propellant into eight chunks that created the eight white arcs shown in the photo.

IIRC, the solid-fuel rocket motor on a Standard missile burns its fuel from an inner open cylinder running up the center, out toward the casing. The outer skin of the motor is quite thin since the pressure is largely contained by the unburnt fuel.

[/speculation]

[JimRed]

Any Muslim crewmen in the ordnance department?

[NorthMountain]

Pretty much the only way they explode is if something blocks the nozzle.

Cracks in the propellant grain can cause uneven burning, penetration of the case by hot gas, and explosion.