EP0018920B1 - Mobile weapon system with great mobility of orientation - Google Patents

Abstract

Carried weapon system with a high orientation mobility in elevation and bearing. The elevation mobility is ensured by eliminating the turret and the provision of a shaft in the vehicle superstructure in accordance with its longitudinal axis and the fixing of the weapon to its cradle in said shaft which is open towards the top and front and beneath the weapon towards the bottom. The mobility in bearing is ensured by the self-rotation of the vehicle which displaces the weapon. Such movable turretless weapon system is able to fire at land, maritime and air targets.

Description

The present invention relates to a weapon system carried with great orientation mobility. More specifically, in the context of the invention, the weapons considered consist of one or more artillery shell launch tubes, rockets, missiles, etc., tubes which must be oriented in site and in field. from a self-propelled platform in general, allowing rapid movement from one shooting point to another, regardless of the nature of the terrain on which the platform must operate. In addition, the weapons must be capable of being aimed towards a mobile or fixed target, land or air regardless of the altitude.

According to the prior art, the platform is a wheeled or tracked vehicle on which is mounted a turret, housing the weapon, mobile turret in bearing and carrying a site axis. The orientation of the weapon in deposit and site is thus linked to the turret which however presents serious drawbacks when one wants for the weapon a large deflection site of the order of - 15 ° to 38 ° on 360 ° in deposit; under these conditions it is necessary to design a turret of great height so that the weapon is released at the rear of the superstructure of the carrier vehicle.

We can then consider a carrier vehicle without a turret, whose exterior appearance has been modified by the concern to provide the servants with protection that the turret provided but which suffers from a great handicap with regard to mobility in field of the weapon which only relies on the mobility of the vehicle itself. Such a vehicle is described in the article by R. MELLER “The armored FSCV, a derivative of the M1133 with great firepower pages 252-255 of the International Defense Review, vol. 12, No. 2, 1979.

It is obvious that wheeled vehicles and known tracked vehicles, even if they can pivot, for mainly tracked vehicles, with a relatively small radius of gyration, cannot maneuver like a turret. They cannot therefore and especially in the conditions in which it is necessary to do it during a shooting on fast moving targets, involve the positioning in position of a weapon, and this with a minimum required precision. It is the object of the invention to define a weapon system carried by a vehicle, which is endowed with great orientation mobility, even when the weapon is not placed in a mobile turret .

According to the invention, the weapon system with high mobility of orientation consisting of one or more tubes launching artillery shells, rockets, missiles or other on land, sea or air purposes is carried by a vehicle without turret, the weapon made up of one or more tubes, movable in elevation being arranged longitudinally in the carrier vehicle and pointable in bearing by pivoting of the carrier vehicle; the carrier vehicle comprises in its superstructure fixed to the chassis a well formed in its longitudinal axis, open upwards and forwards and under the weapon, towards the ground, with in this well a cradle on which the weapon rests, mobile in elevation around trunnions placed on the elevation axis of the carrier vehicle with a deflection of the order of - 15 ° to + 90 °, and is equipped with independent driving and steering wheels, said carrier vehicle comprises means for pivoting these wheels so that the carrier vehicle performs a rotational movement around a center point of a circle with respect to which the wheels are tangent, this rotational movement determining the pointing of the weapon in bearing with a 360 ° deflection .

Thus, by this invention, the vehicle capable of being put into autorotation is arranged so as to facilitate the operation of the weapon and this, whatever the conditions of use, and provided with any other means, helping and facilitating the use of the weapon, making the whole an autonomous weapon system.

• la figure 1, une vue générale du système d'arme suivant l'invention ;
• la figure 2, une vue d'ensemble plus détaillée du système d'arme ;
• la figure 3, une vue en plan du véhicule porteur avec son arme ;
• la figure 4, une vue schématique des roues du véhicule en position d'autorotation ;
• la figure 5, une vue schématique de la commande des roues du véhicule ;
• la figure 6, une vue du système apte à effectuer un tir ;
• la figure 7, un diagramme schématique de la commande de l'arme en site et gisement ;
• la figure 8, un diagramme schématique de l'asservissement en autorotation du véhicule porteur ; et
• la figure 9, un diagramme schématique de l'asservissement en site de l'arme.

Other advantages and characteristics of the invention will become apparent during the following description of an exemplary embodiment given with the aid of the figures which represent:

• Figure 1, a general view of the weapon system according to the invention;
• Figure 2, a more detailed overview of the weapon system;
• Figure 3, a plan view of the carrier vehicle with its weapon;
• Figure 4, a schematic view of the vehicle wheels in the autorotation position;
• Figure 5, a schematic view of the control of the vehicle wheels;
• Figure 6, a view of the system capable of making a shot;
• Figure 7, a schematic diagram of the control of the weapon in site and deposit;
• FIG. 8, a schematic diagram of the servo-control in autorotation of the carrier vehicle; and
• FIG. 9, a schematic diagram of the site control of the weapon.

In the introduction to the present invention, emphasis was placed on one of the characteristic properties of the weapon system considered, its great mobility. This great mobility is then understood both for the carrier vehicle and for the weapon carried, the great mobility of the first resulting in the great mobility of the second. This characteristic immediately eliminates the solution consisting in placing the weapon under a turret which, movable in bearing causes it, but then independently of the vehicle.

Figure 1 shows a general view of the weapon system according to the invention.

The 1-carrier vehicle is an armored vehicle of the same type with steering and driving wheels. In the example considered it has four wheels, but this number can be extended to six or eight, more possibly depending on the case. These wheels are identified by 2, 3, 4 and 5. This vehicle is used to support a weapon 6, here a four-barrel cannon; this however does not imply any limitation. This barrel is fixed to the vehicle via, for example, a cradle (not visible in the drawing) movable in elevation around pins placed on the elevation axis of the vehicle. This weapon is therefore by itself immobile in a deposit. However, as the drawing in FIG. 1 shows, the wheels 2, 3, 4 and 5 can take positions which appear somewhat peculiar. In fact, and this is a characteristic of the carrier vehicle, the wheels which are both steering and driving can take a position such that they can be made tangent to one or more concentric circles, the center of which is located on the longitudinal axis of the vehicle and allow the vehicle to start autorotation around this point. It appears so that the autorotation of the vehicle leads to the autorotation of the weapon which is fixed on it, this movement equivalent to a movement in deposit.

Constituting a weapon system, the vehicle assembly 1, weapon 6, includes other means, such as a sighting device 7 with a fire calculator and a target designation device 9, an episcopic scope 8; the objective designation device can be a radar.

FIG. 2 shows another overall view of the weapon system where the location of the weapon in the vehicle is more clearly visible and where the objective designation device 9 is also seen mounted on the vehicle, or standby sensor.

We note on this figure, the position of the weapon allowing a shooting at high site. The carrier vehicle is then as it spares in its superstructure 10 fixed to the perimeter of the chassis 11 and in the axis of the vehicle, a well 12 open upwards and forwards and under the weapon, towards the ground. This arrangement allows a great mobility of the weapon in site and the well being open towards the ground, an easy ejection of the residues of the shooting by the bottom of the vehicle.

FIG. 3 represents a plan view of the vehicle making it possible to complete the description of the weapon system that constitutes the vehicle according to the invention. The cradle 13 on which the weapon rests and which is movable in elevation around an axis 14 passing through trunnions 15, carries a toothed sector 16 attacked by the pinion output gear site 17 placed in the superstructure 10 and the reduction gearbox site carries the electric motor of remote control site of the weapon 18. The movable cradle 13 also carries all the slides 19. allowing the recoil and supporting the fixing of the weapon, the shock absorbers of recoil and the springs of recall of the weapon in firing position forward.

The weapon itself is linked to the slides by its support. This weapon can be monotube or multitube but in all cases it is with closed breech 20, the recoil force being tolerated by the pins up to a value of the order of 5 tonnes or more.

The carrier vehicle is designed so as to carry the weapon and offer it the possibilities which have been defined above. The vehicle additionally comprises all the organs which are necessary for its propulsion, for the service of the weapon and for the service of the weapon system which the assembly constitutes. In particular, the vehicle is designed so that the wheels are used on the one hand for moving the vehicle and on the other hand for its autorotation which allows the pointing of the weapon in direction.

The carrier vehicle 1 is essentially composed of a chassis 21 which carries all the other necessary elements, some of which have already been listed.

The chassis is constituted by a rigid frame 21 carrying at its four corners fasteners 22 for the suspension, at the rear the fastening by means of "silent blocks, the heat engine 23 and its electric generator group for propulsion and the servos as well as the hydraulic generator for the suspension.

The chassis carries the four electric powertrains comprising, the four hydraulic suspensions for the four-wheeled vehicle envisaged by way of example, the four electric motors 24 of wheels, each being linked to the corresponding wheel by a constant velocity joint allowing a movement of the wheel ± 30 ° relative to the engine, the four wheels with their brake and their tachometer generator 25. The chassis also carries the two steering boxes, one front and one rear, each box being double to allow independent control of each half rack for autorotation.

The chassis also carries the superstructure already named, and which aims to protect the equipment and the servants of the weapon, superstructure fixed on all the perimeter of the chassis and ensuring a better rigidity of the whole. This assembly includes inside its interconnections with the engine coupling box and the control box, as well as the on-board computer, and outside all the components which have been listed during the description of FIGS. 1 and 2 .

Figure 4 shows how the wheels of the vehicle carrying the weapon must be oriented to allow the vehicle to go into autorotation. These wheels 2, 3, 4, 5 must be tangent to a circle whose center C is located on the longitudinal axis L of the vehicle V.

FIG. 5 shows how the wheels of the vehicle are controlled for its autorotation. The steering bars 26, 27, 28 and 29 for a four-wheeled vehicle are independently controlled from the steering boxes 30 and 31 to move in opposite directions from each other. If, for example, the bars 26 and 28 belonging respectively to the trains I and II move in the direction of the arrow F1, the bars 27 and 29 move in the opposite direction given by the arrow F2.

All the provisions that have just been described give the vehicle carrying the weapon a certain number of advantages which allow its implementation as a weapon system against aerial and terrestrial purposes, both in taxiing and in autorotation on any terrain.

In fact, the hydraulic suspension adopted for the vehicle avoids any disturbance to the devices used on the vehicle and which are necessary for detecting the targets, their pursuit and shooting, disturbances of the vibration type which would be caused by the running of the vehicle, or by a mechanical gearbox. Since this does not exist on the vehicle in question, the generator set is fixed in a flexible manner, a fixing which communicates no vibration to the chassis of the vehicle.

In addition, the hydraulic suspension allows the vehicle to maintain a stable attitude both during taxiing and when stopped when the vehicle is turning in autorotation on a non-flat surface.

Under these conditions and in accordance with the invention, the determination of the location of the weapon in the triggering of the firing on a target or its pursuit, is done by the autorotation of the carrier vehicle and control of the servomechanisms of the wheels of the vehicle from data provided by the telescopic sight 7 for example and transformed in the computer installed on board the vehicle 1.

FIG. 6 represents the vehicle carrying the weapon capable of making a shot.

By this figure, we show how the vehicle, as a weapon system, is capable of carrying out either a surveillance of possible targets, possible in normal driving, and on external information, or also in autonomous mode, the vehicle having a rifle scope and a tracking scope.

We are thus led to define a vehicle reference trihedron OXYZ, in which, the X axis is the forward axis of the vehicle, the Y axis is the axis in the attitude plane, which is identified relative to the chassis and which is horizontal when the vehicle is on a horizontal plane, the suspensions are adjusted to the same height and the tire inflation is identical, and the Z axis which is perpendicular to the first two and oriented towards the top.

A second reference trihedron is also defined, OXYZ allowing the use of external information, transmitted by an external sensor for example or an operational center. In this trihedron the axis OX 'is directed towards the north, the axis OY' is directed towards the west and the axis OZ is vertical, directed upwards.

We also define a third reference trihedron, linked to the pursuit, namely O'X _o Y _o Z _o in which the axis O'X _o is directed towards the target, the axis O'Y _o is perpendicular to the 0'X _o axis and parallel to the attitude and the O'Z _o axis is perpendicular to the previous two.

The surveillance of possible targets is carried out, whether the vehicle is in normal driving or in all terrain, by the optical omnidirectional standby station 8, or by an electromagnetic sensor 9. The omnidirectional optical standby station includes for example a telescopic sight large field whose line of sight can move in elevation from - 15 ° to + 90 ° and sweep all the fields without limitation while the eyepieces placed in front of the operator are fixed relative to the chassis of the vehicle. The aiming axis can be remotely controlled at constant speed in bearing to scan around a vertical axis even for a relatively sharp slope of the vehicle.

The target can be acquired by its tracking telescope, the vehicle being in the taxiing position. Like the telescope, the tracking telescope is fitted with fixed eyepieces with respect to the chassis and its O'X _{o line} of sight can move throughout the upper space above the ground surface.

This pursuit being engaged for the vehicle in the driving position, can continue when the vehicle stops and goes into the autorotation position then allowing the weapon to pursue the target by means of the vehicle, the l 'angle it must make with the line of sight is established by the computer.

FIG. 7 represents the schematic diagram of the control of the error in elevation and in bearing.

The tracking telescope 32 delivers the values S of the angle of elevation of the telescope relative to the attitude platform of the vehicle, g of the bearing angle relative to the axis of the vehicle and the measurements of the absolute angular speed vertically and sideways from the line of sight, ie Ωy and Ωz. These measurements are transmitted to the computer 33 installed on board the vehicle, as well as the measurement of site I of the weapon given by the site servomechanism 34 of the weapon. This calculator, taking into account the characteristics of the projectile given by the weapon, evaluates the site angle I of the weapon and the angle g between the weapon and the scope; it also performs the comparison between the values 1 and 1 to deliver to the servomechanism of site control 34 of the weapon site and between the values g and g to deliver to the control circuit of the wheels 35 of the vehicle, the control information the vehicle's autorotation speed.

Note that the way in which the values of the various parameters mentioned above are determined is not given in detail, because on the one hand it is not part of the invention and on the other hand, it is known per se.

FIG. 8 represents a schematic diagram of the servo-control in autorotation of the vehicle from data supplied by the computer 33. Each wheel identified by 2, 5, 3, 4 has its own servo-control. The autorotation speeds to be printed on the wheels are delivered by the computer 33, by correction circuits 332, 335, 333 and 334, the number on the right corresponding to the mark of the associated wheel.

Each control chain includes, from the computer correction circuit, a subtractor circuit 372-375-373-374, an amplifier cator 362-365-363-364 and the motor of the corresponding wheel 242, 245, 243, 244.

Each wheel, as already mentioned, is associated with a tachometer generator 252-255-253-254, which has the effect of linearizing the control of the corresponding wheel. To better understand the location of the different components of the wheel control system, the frame 21 of the vehicle, the wheels 2-5 and 3-4 and the axis of the vehicle OX which is confused with the axis of the barrel in bearing, the value g of which is the angle measured in relation to the scope of the telescope. Each generator is included in a correction loop leading to the subtracting circuit and to the correcting circuit.

FIG. 9 represents the schematic diagram of the site control of the weapon.

The servo path starts from the computer 33 in which there is a device 38 for calculating the angle I, connected to a subtraction device 39 whose output feeds a corrector circuit 40. This circuit delivers a site angle value so-called controlled which, through a subtraction circuit 41 is applied to an amplifier servomechanism 42, to the weapon site control motor 43, connected to a tachometer generator 45 which is inserted in a loop closing on the circuit of subtraction 41. The motor 43 controls the orientation of the weapon in elevation through a reduction gear 44 and a correction loop is established from the weapon which closes on the subtraction device 39 of the computer.

We have thus described a weapon system carried with great mobility of orientation, in which the weapon is capable of ensuring a shooting on terrestrial and aerial objectives, in a very important angle of site and on 360 ° in bearing, the mobility on site being permitted by the absence of a turret and a special arrangement of the carrier vehicle equipped with wheels.

Other advantages follow from these arrangements according to the invention. The absence of a turret allows the site axis of the weapon to be lowered, which makes it possible to increase the recoil forces without stabilizing the vehicle, which also gives the vehicle a low silhouette, with a height less than 2 meters, allowing easy camouflage in rough terrain in particular. In addition, the passage of the weapon in a well external to the cockpit allows a large clearance, a great facility of expulsion of the residues and the possibility of a large recoil.

Claims (5)

1. Mobile weapon system with great orientation mobility in which a carrier vehicle (1) without turret carries a weapon (6) formed of one or a plurality of tubes and which is movable in elevation, longitudinally arranged within the carrier vehicle (1) and the bearing angle of which may be adjusted by pivotal movement of the carrier vehicle (1), the carrier vehicle (1) comprising, in its upper structure (10) secured to its frame (11, 21), awell (12) arranged in its longitudinal axis and opening upwardly and forwardly, a cradle (13) being provided within this well (12) upon which the weapon (6) rests while being movable in elevation about trunnions (15) aligned with the elevation axis (14) of the carrier vehicle (1), characterized in that said well (12) opens towards the bottom beneath the weapon (6), that the weapon (6) is movable in elevation across an angle of about - 15° to + 90°, and in that the carrier vehicle (1) is equipped with independent driving and steering wheels (2, 3, 4, 5), said carrier vehicle (1) comprising means (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31) for pivoting these wheels (2, 3, 4, 5) in such a manner that the carrier vehicle performs a rotational movement about a center point (C) of a circle with respect to which the wheels (2, 3, 4, 5) are tangential, this rotational movement determining the bearing direction of the weapon (6) with a deflection range of 360°.

2. Mobile weapon system in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that the free space of the well (12) opening towards the bottom is in relation with the constructional characteristics of the carrier vehicle (1) which is equipped with driving wheels (2, 3, 4, 5) electrically driven by a wheel motor (24), hydraulic suspensions being localized at determined points (22) of the frame, without torsional bars and without transmission shafts.

3. Weapon system in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that the rotational movement of the carrier vehicle (1) about the center (C) for reaching a predetermined bearing angle or for crossing a determined bearing angle is controlled by an aiming device (7) located in the carrier vehicle (1).

4. Mobile weapon system in accordance with claim 3, characterized in that the bearing angle orientation control of the weapon (6) is established from data supplied by an aiming device (7) feeding a computer (33) within the carrier vehicle feeding to each wheel (2, 3, 4, 5) of the vehicle a rotational speed control through a control path comprising a correction device (332-335-333-334) connected to an amplifier (362-365-363-364) feeding a wheel motor (242-245-243-244) associated with a tachometer generator (252-255-253-254).

5. Mobile weapon system in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that it further comprises an aiming device (7), an objective designation device (9) and a telescopic periscope (8).

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