RU2363906C2 - Tank turret automatic loader - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: weapons.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to armored vehicles, particularly, to tank armament. Proposed tank with turret automatic loader comprises armored shell, full-tracked chassis, power plant, rotary turret with gun arranged at its front. The automatic loader is mounted at the turret rear and comprises housing, set of quick-firing rounds arranged parallel to the turret lengthwise axis, belt conveyor to deliver rounds to loading position, mechanisms to ram rounds into barrel and to extract cartridge case after shot. The automatic loader main part represents a detachable automated parallelepiped-like cluster fitted in the turret rear recess.

EFFECT: possibility to use long-range guided missiles to hit armored targets ar larger ranges outside field of vision.

13 cl, 8 dwg

Description

The invention relates to armored vehicles, and more particularly to armament of a tank. Domestic tanks T-72, T-80, T-90 have separate loading shots and are equipped with carousel-type loading automatic machines located on the tank floor and equipped with mechanisms for lifting propelling charges and shells onto the loading line.

The use of separate loading was considered at one time as a successful technical solution, allowing to reduce the length of the shot and, as a result, to use a fundamentally new carousel circuit automatic loader with its location on the tank floor [1]. It was assumed that the ammunition hidden deep in the tank would be reliably protected from the effects of enemy fire. These hopes did not materialize. In regional conflicts, the enemy, knowing the design of the tank well, fired from the grenade launchers the side of the tank in the area of the carousel, where possible into the space between the rollers. The cumulative jet penetrating through the relatively thin side armor easily ignited the burning shells, which led to a catastrophic defeat of the tank. The same danger was also threatened by anti-bottom mines. With a push-pull charging circuit, the charging time was extended. Loading the ammunition into the ring conveyor on the floor of the vehicle through the upper hatches of the tower and the cramped space of the fighting compartment was a long and laborious operation.

However, the main organic defect of the machine was another. In the adopted scheme, the projectile length cannot exceed the inner radius of the annular conveyor. At the same time, the current development trend of armor-piercing feathered sub-caliber shells (BOPS) is to continuously increase their length. Shells have already been developed with a relative elongation of armor-piercing rods 30 and 35. In the future, their length can reach up to 800 mm, and possibly up to 900 mm. Under no circumstances will such a projectile fit in a ring conveyor. A similar picture holds for cumulative tandem shells. As you know, with increasing distance between the precharge and the main charge, the damaging effect of the projectile increases.

An even more difficult situation arises when fundamentally new ammunition is introduced into the tank’s ammunition, the so-called hypersonic armor-piercing guided missiles of kinetic action (see US Pat. No. 2108537 of the Russian Federation, Research Institute of SM MSTU named after N.E.Bauman). In these missiles fired from the barrel, speeds of 2200-2300 m / s can be achieved, which will ensure horizontal penetration of up to 800-900 mm. The length of the missiles will reach 1200-1300 mm. The armor-piercing rod is located along the axis of the charge of solid fuel and is slightly inferior in length to the length of the rocket.

This drawback was eliminated in the design of the French tank Leclerc, the only western tank with an automatic loader [2]. An automatic loader with a belt type conveyor is not installed in the tank’s hull, but in the rear of the turret. A similar scheme was used in the experimental Ukrainian tank Yatagan. The conveyor belt contains 22 unitary cartridges with a partially burning sleeve, laid parallel to the longitudinal axis of the tower.

Equipment of the conveyor cells is carried out externally through the loading hatch in the aft wall of the tower or from the inside from the gunner’s place, which can replenish the machine from the ammunition storage - a rotating drum for 18 shots located in the case to the right of the driver.

Manual reloading of the machine is associated with a significant investment of time and a decrease in the combat effectiveness of the tank. Another significant drawback is the relatively short length of the machine, which does not allow the use, for example, hypersonic armor-piercing missiles. Another disadvantage is the lack of a command input device for a projectile fuse. The present invention addresses these drawbacks.

The technical solution consists in the fact that the aft compartment of the tower is made in the form of a rectangular container open on one side, and the main part of the autoloader is made in the form of a removable mechanized cartridge in the form of a parallelepiped inserted into this compartment, the length of the cartridge is 10 ... 12 projectile calibres, in the composition of the automatic loader is activated by the automatic fuse installer.

Figure 1 - tank with a cartridge inserted into the shoulder strap of the tower from above; figure 2 - tank with a cartridge inserted into the side of the tower side; figure 3 is a General view of a mechanized cartridge; figure 4 is a cross section of a cartridge; 5 is a longitudinal section of a tower; 6 is a diagram of the action of the rammer-extractor; 7 is an approximate arrangement of shots in a cartridge; Fig - loading cassettes into the tank using a transport-loading machine.

The invention relates to a tank of a classical design with an inhabited full-swing turret and aft power plant arrangement.

The tank (Fig. 1) includes an armored hull 1, a caterpillar chassis 2, a power plant 3, a full-swing turret 4 with a gun 5 and aft compartment 6, in which a mechanized cartridge 7 with ammunition is placed. In the diagram of Fig. 1, the installation of the cartridge in the shoulder strap of the tower is made from above, in the diagram of Fig. 2 - from the side. It is also possible to install cassettes at the rear.

The mechanized cartridge (Fig. 3) includes a cartridge case 8, made primarily of light alloy, a conveyor belt 9 located in it with stacking unitary 10 or separate-shell shots 11 or rockets 12 parallel to the tower axis, a cover (panel) 13 (with execution according to the scheme of figure 1). Figure 3 shows a cartridge with double-row stacking of shots, however, it is possible to produce a cartridge with three or more rows. The length of the cartridge is within 10 ... 12 projectile calibers, which for a 125 mm gun caliber corresponds to 1250 ... 1500 mm. This makes it possible to place shots with armor-piercing subcaliber shells with armor-piercing rod lengthening up to 30 ... 40, shots with cumulative tandem shells, unguided and guided hypersonic armor-piercing kinetic missiles, guided long-range guided missiles, anti-aircraft guided missiles in the cassette.

The conveyor belt 9 (figure 4) represents a set of cylindrical sockets 14 connected by a chain 15 to an endless belt. The chain is driven by gear 16 driven by an electric drive or manually by a handle. The nest is made in the form of a cylindrical shell mainly of light alloy and is equipped with a shot lock in the nest (not shown in Fig. 4).

An additional function of the shell is to protect the propellant charge of the shot, especially in the presence of a burning cartridge case, from ignition by high-speed particles arising in the aft compartment when fragments and bullets get into it.

Figure 5 shows a longitudinal section of the tower (option of figure 1). Between the turret and the aft compartment, a movable armored arm 17 is installed, which opens when the gun is loaded and the spent cartridge case (pallet) is removed, as well as when the machine is loaded from the turret.

Between the cartridge and the breech of the gun, an inductor 18 of an automatic installer of a temporary fuse (AUDV) connected to the tank’s fire control system is installed.

At the rear end of the aft compartment along the axis of the barrel there is a chain rammer-extractor 19 made with the contact part being modified during loading and extraction of the spent sleeve. One possible embodiment is shown in Fig.6. At the rear end of the sleeve, an annular profile groove 20 is made. When the sleeve is removed from the rammer, elastic elements 21 extend, capturing the sleeve behind the ledge of the annular groove (Fig.6b).

The cartridge is equipped with various types of shots in a proportion determined by the conditions of the upcoming military operation. The possibility of using cartridges of factory equipment with a standard set of shots is provided.

When a shot is installed in the cartridge slot, the coded magnetic mark of the shot is read by the socket sensor and transmitted to the memory of the fire control system (FCS). The option of manual input of information is provided.

- осколочно-фугасный снаряд - 5 шт.,

БОПС - 5 шт.,

- осколочно-пучковый снаряд - 3 шт.,

- кумулятивный тандемный снаряд - 2 шт., гиперзвуковые бронебойные ракеты: О -

неуправляемые - 2 шт., ⊗ - управляемая - 1 шт.,

- дальнобойные управляемые ракеты - 2 шт.,

- ЗУР - 2 шт.).An approximate layout in a cartridge with 22 nests of shots of six types (

- high-explosive fragmentation shell - 5 pcs.,

BOPS - 5 pcs.,

- fragmentation-beam projectile - 3 pcs.,

- cumulative tandem shell - 2 pcs., hypersonic armor-piercing missiles: О -

uncontrollable - 2 pcs., ⊗ - controlled - 1 pc.,

- long-range guided missiles - 2 pcs.,

- SAM - 2 pcs.).

The loading of the loaded cartridge into the stern of the tower is carried out using a transport-loading machine (Fig. 8). Manual cassette loading directly on the tank is also possible.

After selecting the target and the corresponding type of projectile, the system, on command, extracts information from the storage device about the location of this shot in the cartridge and sends a command to move it using a conveyor belt to the loading line. At the same time, the armored curtain is pushed back. The chain rammer sends a shot (unitary or split-shell) to the breech of the gun. For shots with a trajectory fuse, the dispatch is performed in two stages: at the first stage, the shot is advanced to the position of the installation using the inductor, at the second - the shot is sent to the breech. The curtain closes, the gun is given the required elevation angle, after which a shot is fired.

The system is primarily designed for the use of partially combustible sleeves. After removing the remaining pan with the extractor, the following options are provided:

- the remaining liner tray is removed outside the tank through a special automatically opening hatch;

- The pallet returns to the cartridge slot.

The latter option has an advantage for economic reasons.

After the shots in the cartridge have been used up, further firing is carried out by shots located in stacks inside the tank body. In this case, options are possible:

- loading is done manually directly from laying in the barrel;

- shots inside the tank are manually reloaded from stacking into the cartridge with the preliminary removal of the used pallets from it, and then loading from the cartridge in the usual way.

The presence in the ammunition tank of guided long-range missiles gives the tank a new property - the ability to destroy armored and other targets at large distances out of sight.

The defeat can be carried out both by direct-hit missiles, and by missiles with cluster warheads carrying SADARM-type submunitions, descending by parachutes and hitting the target from above with impact cores.

This possibility increases significantly when unmanned aerial vehicles launched from the barrel are included in the ammunition load. These devices are equipped with means of communication with a tank, a television camera, means of illumination of targets, etc. can search for ground and air targets, ranking them by hazard level, highlighting targets and pointing projectiles at them. The presence in the ammunition anti-aircraft guided missiles provides the opportunity for a successful battle of the tank with tank dangerous air targets.

Information sources

1. Odintsov V.A. "It's time to return to the unitary tank cartridge." Independent Military Review, No. 18, 2006.

2. "Modern tanks", ed. Safonov B.S., Murakhovsky V.I. - M .; Arsenal Press, 1995.

3. Pat. No. 2108537 of the Russian Federation.

4. Pat. No. 2118778 of the Russian Federation.

5. Pat. No. 2165573 of the Russian Federation.

6. Pat.№ 2169337 of the Russian Federation.

7. Pat. No. 2215965 of the Russian Federation.

8. Pat. No. 2258889 of the Russian Federation.

9. Pat.№ 2282819 of the Russian Federation.

10. Odintsov V.A. Optimization of the caliber of the Tver short-range artillery system. Defense Technology, No. 11, 2002.

Claims (13)

1. A tank with a tower automatic loader, comprising an armored hull, a caterpillar chassis, a power plant, a turret of circular rotation with a gun mounted in front of the turret, the automatic loader being installed in the rear of the turret, contains a hull, a set of unitary cartridges stacked parallel to the longitudinal the axis of the tower, a conveyor belt for delivering shots to the loading line, mechanisms for sending shots to the barrel and retrieving the cartridge case after the shot, characterized in that the part of the automatic loader is made in the form of a removable mechanized a bathroom cassette in the shape of a parallelepiped, under which a niche is made in the aft of the tower. 2. The tank according to claim 1, characterized in that the aft of the tower is made with the possibility of installing the cartridge in a niche from above, behind and from the side. 3. The tank according to claim 1, characterized in that the conveyor belt is made in the form of a set of cylindrical sockets connected by an endless chain, driven by an electric motor or manually. 4. The tank according to claim 3, characterized in that the nest is made in the form of a cylindrical shell mainly of light alloy and is equipped with a shot lock in the nest. 5. The tank according to claim 1, characterized in that the cartridge is made with a length of 10 ... 12 projectile calibers. 6. The tank according to claim 1, characterized in that at the rear end of the aft compartment there is a chain recharger-extractor made with the contact part being modified during loading and extraction of the spent cartridge case. 7. The tank according to claim 1, characterized in that between the cartridge and the breech of the guns installed inductor automatic installer temporary fuse connected to the fire control system. 8. The tank according to claim 1, characterized in that the cartridges are designed to be equipped with unitary shots, shots of a separate shell loading, shots of a separate shell loading with the placement of part of the shell in a propelling charge, unguided and guided missiles. 9. The tank according to claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the cartridges are designed to be equipped with hypersonic armor-piercing kinetic missiles. 10. The tank according to claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the cartridges are designed to be equipped with guided long-range missiles, including with cluster warheads. 11. The tank according to claim 1, characterized in that the cartridges are designed to equip anti-aircraft guided missiles. 12. The tank according to claim 1, characterized in that the cartridges are designed to equip unmanned aerial vehicles. 13. The tank according to claim 1, characterized in that the shots are equipped with coded magnetic tags.

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