Claims
- 1. A tandem warhead missile assembly comprising, and elongated composite material housing of wound fiber and epoxy, first and second warheads mounted in said housing in spaced relationship, and a dome shaped composite material blast shield of wound fiber and epoxy, made integral with said housing, separating said first and second warheads and for protecting said second warhead from explosive blast of said first warhead.
- 2. A tandem warhead missile assembly as set forth in claim 1, wherein said housing has two sections with a first section of said housing mounting said first warhead and a second section of said housing mounting said second warhead with said blast shield being made of the same material as said second housing section and as an integral part of said second housing section.
- 3. A tandem warhead missile assembly as set forth in claim 2, wherein said dome shaped blast shield has an opening there through with a plug plugging said opening of said blast shield.
- 4. A tandem warhead missile assembly as set forth in claim 3, wherein said dome shape of said blast shield is oriented relative to said first warhead such that a blast from said first warhead will be directed radially outward by said blast shield and said first housing section being made of such composite material that a portion of said first housing section will quickly fail to allow blast pressure from the first warhead to be vented outward.
- 5. A tandem warhead missile assembly as set forth in claim 4, wherein said first housing section is made of two helical layers and one hoop layer of graphite material.
- 6. A tandem warhead missile assembly as set forth in claim 5, wherein said second housing section and said dome shaped blast shield are made of a plurality of layers of glass material.
- 7. A tandem warhead missile assembly comprising, an elongated and cylindrical housing section that has a rear housing section that terminates at one end in a dome section, said rear housing section and said dome section being made of a plurality of layers of wound fiber composite material that is bonded together with an epoxy, said housing section further having an outer layer that extends the entire length of said housing section and being an outer structure that is made of wound fiber composite material that readily fails quickly due to pressure blast, said outer layer of composite material being bonded together and made integral with said rear housing section and with said dome being intermediate said rear housing section and a front portion of said outer housing layer, a first warhead mounted in a front portion of said outer housing layer and a second warhead mounted in a rear portion of said rear housing section, and said dome section having an opening through the center thereof.
- 8. A tandem warhead missile assembly as set forth in claim 7, wherein said outer housing layer is made of graphite material and includes two helical layers and one hoop layer of said graphite material.
- 9. A tandem warhead missile assembly as set forth in claim 8, wherein said rear housing section and said dome are made of glass material and include at least six helical and three half hoop layers of said glass material.
- 10. A tandem warhead missile assembly as set forth in claim 9, wherein said dome section has a plug that plugs said opening.
DEDICATORY CLAUSE
The invention described herein may be manufactured, used, and licensed by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment to us of any royalties thereon.
Due to the advancement in armor technology, current anti-tank missile systems require more sophisticated warhead technology to provide the necessary lethality. One technology used to combat the armor threat is tandem explosive warheads such as shaped charges or explosively formed penetrators, which use two or more warheads in series to attack the armor. The precursor warhead(s) removes part of the armor, allowing the following warhead(s), main charge, to attack a more vulnerable portion of the target. These tandem warhead systems insert a time delay between the warhead initiations to allow each warhead to react with the armor. The delay time is required to allow the precursor warhead(s) to initiate any reactive armor elements and expend its energy before the main charge warhead is initiated or its performance capabilities are deteriorated by the front charge initiation. The main charge warhead(s) must be protected from the blast from the preceding warhead so optimum performance of the main charge may be achieved against the most vulnerable portions of the armor. The protection/separation structure is referred to as the blast shield.
Traditionally, there are three different methods of protecting the main charge warhead(s). One of these methods is to use metal bulkheads which rely on mass alone to separate the blast effects of the precursor warhead(s) from the main charge. The large mass simply provides high resistance to movement (inertial forces), which prevents the blast shield from being accelerated into the rear main charge warhead(s). However, the large mass of the metal blast shield can often reduce the penetration performance of the main warhead by as much as 20 percent. This type of shield approach is documented in BRL Technical Report BRL-TR-2814 by Weaver and Walters, June 1987. The metal blast approach to protect the main warhead is effective but adds mass to the missile, which reduces missile range and maneuverability. Additionally, adding mass to the blast shield is inefficient and less desirable than adding mass to the warhead.
A second approach sometimes used to protect the main or secondary warhead(s) is to use components already in the missile as the blast shield. The component blast shield approach depends on the missile having components that can be repackaged to withstand the pressure induced by the precursor warhead(s) and can be relocated between the warheads. The relocation approach often times cannot be used in some missile systems due to system integration requirements/restraints as well as being very cost inefficient.
The third approach to shielding between multiple warheads concepts is to provide sufficient space between the warheads so the pressure will dissipate before degrading the performance of the main charge. This approach is very difficult to integrate into an existing system, and usually requires an extendable missile section to gain the extra spacing The extendable probe concept is not very space efficient since the collapsed mode extension sections require free space in the missile body.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there is a great need for a tandem warhead in which a good shield can be positioned between the tandem warheads to protect the second warhead and at the same time provide of light weight construction.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a light weight fiber/epoxy composite material blast shield for tandem warheads that is effective and relatively inexpensive.
Another object of this invention is to provide a blast shield which utilizes the high strength-to-density ratio of composite material to reduce the total mass needed for the shield.
Still another object of this invention is to provide a combination of the optimized geometry and composite materials in making a shield for tandem warheads to provide the capability of reducing the overall weight by as much as seventy percent compared to the use of metal blast shields.
Other objects and advantages of this invention will be obvious to those skilled in this art.
In accordance with this invention, a missile structure is provided that has tandem warheads with a light weight fiber/epoxy composite material blast shield between the tandem warheads with the blast shield being utilized of high strength-to-density ratio of composite materials to reduce total weight needed for the shield and the combination of optimized geometry and composite materials providing a missile structure that is considerably reduced in weight.
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Non-Patent Literature Citations (1)
| Entry |
| "A Blast Shield Model for Tandem Warheads", by Glenn W. Weaver & William P.alters, Jun. 1987, pp. 1-19. |
Patent Grant
5003883
