GB2253030A

GB2253030A - Missiles

Info

Publication number: GB2253030A
Application number: GB9103624A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Geoffrey Peter Mcbroom
Original assignee: British Aerospace PLC
Current assignee: BAE Systems PLC
Priority date: 1991-02-21
Filing date: 1991-02-21
Publication date: 1992-08-26
Also published as: GB9103624D0

Abstract

A missile 10 carrying submunitions 16 has a frangible ceramic cover 18 through which the submunitions 16 are ejected. The cover 18 is fragmented on impact with the submunitions 16 which are ejected by a pyrotechnic gas generator 30. Resilient means (22, 24) may be provided at the interface 20 between the cover and the missile body. <IMAGE>

Description

MISSILES This invention relates to missiles including a cover element which covers a region of the missile and which is jettisonable to uncover said region.

In a known arrangement, a cover is in the form of one or more panel or petal elements covering a part of the missile, for example a homing head or a submunition bay.

The cover is jettisoned by blowing off the panel element or elements but this can take too long and the jettisoned panels may be large enough to damage the missile or equipment deployed therefrom. In addition, where used to cover a bay housing deployable items, a restraint band is often needed to restrain the items until deployment and this adds to the complexity and the deployment time.

Accordingly, in one aspect, this invention provides a missile including a cover element of brittle material covering a region of the missile, there being means operable to cause the cover element to fragment to uncover said region.

In another aspect, this invention comprises a cover element of brittle material for covering a region of the missile as in the arrangement defined above.

Whilst the invention has been described above, it includes any inventive combination of features set out above or in the following description or in the claims at the end of the specification.

The invention may be performed in various ways and an embodiment thereof will now be described in detail, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Figure 1 is a schematic longitudinal section view through the front part of a missile in accordance with the invention; Figures 2a and 2b show alternative interface arrangements between the cover and the missile body in the arrangement of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a schematic transverse section view taken on the lines III-III of Figure 1, with the left and right hand sides showing the configuration before and immediately after fragmentation of the cover, respectively, and Figure 4 is a detailed transverse sectional view showing a flechette with a stylus for applying a point loading.

Referring to Figure 1, there is shown a missile 10 having one or, as shown, several annular submunitions bays 12 disposed aft of the missile head 14. Each submunitions bay 12 houses a series of submunitions side-by-side, here shown as flechettes 16, the bays and the flechettes being surrounded and contained by a frangible ceramic tube or cover 18 of cylindrical form. As shown in Figures 2a and 2b, an interface 20 is provided between each end of the tube 18 and the adjacent supporting parts of the missile body to provide a resilient support and, if required, sealing of the bay 12. Each interface may take the form of one or more '0' rings 22 provided in grooves in the missile body or a collar 24 of plastics material.

The missile includes a flechette ejection device located inwardly of the bay 12 which on actuation generates a radially outward flechette ejection force on the flechettes 16.

In use, when the flechettes 16 are to be deployed, the ejection device is actuated to urge the flechetttes radially outwardly against the tube 18 which causes the tube to shatter or fragment into small pieces, as shown in Figure 3.

To assist fragmentation of the tube 18, one or more of the flechettes 16 may include an outwardly directed stylus 26 or the like, as shown in Figure 4. Between the stylus and the tube 18 there is a rubber or soft plastic pad 28. On deployment, the flechette ejection force urges the flechette 16 outwardly so that the stylus penetrates or ruptures the pad 28 and applies a point loading to the tube 18.

The tube 18 may be made of any suitable fragmentable material, for example a ceramic material prestressed to fragment into small pieces.

The flechette ejection device comprises a high-speed pyrotechnic gas generator 30 in the rear of the illustrated part of the missile. The generator is coupled to a manifold 32 which extends forward and communicates with each of a plurality of radially-extending cylinders 34. There is one cylinder 34, for each flechette 16 and each containing a piston 36 with a curved end face 38 matching and in contact with the side of the associated flechette 16. When the pyrotechnic material within the gas generator is ignited, the resulting pressure is communicated via manifold 32 to the pistons 36 which are thus driven outwards along with the flechettes.

The pistons 36 could be glass-filled plastics material.

For a high speed missile especially, a coating of thermally protective paint 40 may be applied over the outer surface of tube 18.

The flechettes need not all be of the same size and some or all of them could be replaced by sub-munitions of a different shape, for example spherical.

Claims

1. A missile including a cover element of brittle material covering a region of the missile, there being means operable to cause the cover element to fragment to uncover said region.

2. A missile according to Claim 1, wherein said cover element is made of a ceramic material.

3. A missile according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, including resilient interface means disposed between said cover element and an adjacent surface of the missile body.

4. A missile according to Claim 3, wherein said resilient surface means provides a seal between the cover element and the adjacent surface of the missile body.

5. A missile according to any preceding claim, including means for applying to said cover element at least one point loading or impact to cause said cover element to fragment.

6. A missile according to any preceding claim, wherein said cover element covers a storage region or bay for containing submunitions or other payload items for being deployed from the missile.

7. A missile according to Claim 6, wherein said cover element serves to contain said submunitions or items in said bay.

8. A missile according to Claim 6 or Claim 7, wherein said cover element encircles or otherwise surrounds a portion of said missile and said region or bay is provided inwardly thereof.

9. A missile according to any one of Claims 6 to 8, including actuatable ejection means for urging said submunitions or items towards said cover element.

10. A missile according to Claim 9, wherein means is provided on at least one of said submunitions or items for transmitting a local point load to said cover element on actuation of said ejection means to cause said cover element to fragment.

11. A missile according to any one of Claims 1 to 5 wherein said cover element covers a sensor, lens, window or aperture.

12. A cover element for a missile according to any of the preceding claims.