GB2259133A - Combat vehicle viewing system - Google Patents

Abstract

A combat vehicle carrying a gun 2 has back to back cameras 5 mounted at the muzzle end of the gun and supplying images to a CRT inside the vehicle. A further camera 11 pointing forwards along the barrel is pivotable about a horizontal axis. This allows the crew to look around or over obstacles without exposing any part of the vehicle except for the gun muzzle. <IMAGE>

Description

Combat Vehicle Viewing System This invention relates to a combat vehicle viewing system, and particularly to such a system used in a tank.

A problem encountered by combat vehicle crews is visibility. In areas where visibility is relatively poor, such as undulating terrain, vegetation or urban areas it can be impossible for a tank crew to see what is on the other side of a feature blocking visibility without being visible and a potential target themselves.

This is an especially serious problem in urban combat where a tank moving from behind a building at a road intersection could be engaged from at close range as a vulnerable broadside target before the crew can see down the side road.

The most common answer to this problem has been for a crew member to get out of the vehicle and reconnoitre ahead.

This is undesirable because of the danger of the crew member being hit by small arms fire or shell fragments which the vehicle itself would be unaffected by and because it greatly reduces the vehicles mobility as it waits for the crew member to exit the vehicle, move, observe, return and then re-enter the vehicle. A further disadvantage and delay under some circumstances will be the need to decontaminate the crew member if the presence of nuclear fallout or bacterial or chemical agents is suspected.

Another solution is to fit television cameras and other sensors onto a hydraulic extendable mast which can be elevated above the vehicle to allow observation over obstacles. However the weight, bulk and cost of such systems has limited their use to specialist artillery observer and anti-tank missile vehicles and makes retrofitting them to existing vehicles impractical. Also such mast sights do not allow the crew to look around a corner but only over obstacles.

This invention was intended to at least partially overcome this problem.

This invention provides a combat vehicle viewing system comprising an optical sensor mounted on a gun barrel near the muzzle.

This allows the combat vehicle crew to look around or over obstacles without exposing any part of the vehicle except for the gun muzzle and without the cost and weight penalties of a dedicated extendable mast.

Combat vehicle viewing systems embodying the invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings in which, Figure 1 shows a first combat vehicle viewing system employing the invention; Figure 2 shows a combat vehicle using the viewing system of Figure 1; Figure 3 shows a second combat vehicle viewing system employing the invention, and Figure 4 shows a combat vehicle using the viewing system of Figure 3, similar parts having the same reference numerals throughout.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2 a tank 1 is shown. The tank 1 mounts a gun barrel 2 having a boresight direction 3 and a muzzle 4. Near the muzzle 4 a pair of television cameras 5 are mounted on the gun barrel 2 back to back to one another and fixed to look in opposite directions.

Each of the cameras 5 is mounted horizontally and perpendicular to the boresight direction 3 of the gun barrel 2 and has a field of view 8. The cameras 5 are mounted in a protective housing 10. The signals from the cameras 5 are carried by a cable 6 attached to the gun barrel 2 to the main body of the tank 1 where the images seen by the cameras 5 are displayed on a pair of cathode ray tubes (CRT's).

In use, when the tank 1 approaches a corner at an urban road junction 7 it advances until the end of the gun barrel 2 projects beyond the corner.

The cameras 5 can then see around the corners to both sides and the crew can check the fields of view 8 of the cameras 5 on their CRT's, in this case revealing an anti-tank gun 9 waiting in ambush, without leaving the armoured protection of the tank 1.

Similarly any other piece of blocking terrain can be looked around without the crew leaving the tank 1 or the tank 1 being exposed to view apart from the tip of the gun barrel 2.

Referring to Figure 3 a tank 1 having a gun barrel 2 with boresight direction 3 and mounting a pair of TV cameras 5 near the muzzle 4 in a protective housing 10 as before is shown.

A third television camera 11 is also mounted at the muzzle end 4 of the gun barrel 2 in the protective housing 10. The camera 11 is mounted to rotate in a vertical plane parallel to the boresight direction 3 about a horizontal axis 12 between the position 11 shown and the position llA shown in dashed lines. The position of the TV camera 11 is controlled by an electric motor (not shown) and it has a field of view 13.

The signals from the cameras 5 and 11 are carried by a cable 14 attached to the gun barrel 2 to the main body of the tank 1 where the images seen by the cameras 5 and 11 are displayed on three cathode ray tubes (CRT's). The cable 14 also carries control signals from the main body of the tank 1 to the electric motor controlling the position of the TV camera 11.

In use, when the tank 1 is near to the crest of a ridge 15 the gun barrel is elevated until the muzzle 4 and housing 10 project over the ridge 15, the TV camera 11 is then depressed until its field of view 13 covers the far side of the ridge 15.

The tank 1 can thus check the far side of the ridge for threats with only the end of the gun barrel 2 being exposed. The tank 1 can also remain in ambush in this position waiting for a target to appear before driving forward onto the ridge 15 to open fire with only the tip of the gun barrel 2 being visible to warn the target.

The same technique can of course be used to look over any vertical blocking terrain, such as walls or vegetation.

The camera 11 could of course be used alone without the cameras 5.

The images from the cameras 5 and 10 could be viewed on a single CRT or on any other form of visual display.

The TV cameras 5 and 10 detect visible light only, but could be replaced by other types of visual sensor, such as image intensifiers or infrared detectors.

The three cameras 5 and 10 could be replaced by a single camera able to rotate about 2 axes to observe a wide arc. Alternatively if a more robust system were needed the rotating camera 11 could be replaced by a camera fixed at an appropriate angle.

The two and three camera systems shown could be replaced by a single fixed camera with a lens system to give a very wide field of view or more than three cameras.

Claims (7)

1. A combat vehicle viewing system comprising an optical sensor mounted on a gun barrel near the muzzle.

2. A combat vehicle viewing system as claimed in claim 1 and having two fixed optical sensors arranged to view in opposite directions perpendicular to a boresight direction of the gun.

3. A combat vehicle viewing system as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 and having an optical sensor able to rotate in a vertical plane parallel to the boresight direction of the gun.

4. A combat vehicle viewing system as claimed in any preceding claim, where the optical sensor is a television camera.

5. A combat vehicle viewing system as claimed in any preceding claim, where the combat vehicle is a tank.

6. A combat vehicle viewing system substantially as shown in or as described with reference to Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings.

7. A combat vehicle viewing system substantially as shown in or as described with reference to Figures 3 and 4 of the accompanying drawings.