Fuze arming techniques for a submunition
AssigneeBAE SYSTEMS plc
InventorsAndrew Carr, Murray Thomson, Timothy Keith Girling, Martyn John Hucker
Life of this patent
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Abstract
According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a fuze arming system for a submunition, comprising: a first stage, arranged to detect launch of the submunition and its associated carrier; a second stage, arranged to detect expulsion of the submunition from the carrier, and to at least partially arm a submunition fuze based on such detection; wherein the second stage is unable to at least partially arm the submunition fuze without the first stage detecting launch of the submunition and its associated carrier.
Claims19
A fuze arming system for a submunition, the system comprising:
- a first stage, arranged to detect launch of the submunition and a carrier associated with the submunition;
- and
- a second stage, arranged to detect expulsion of the submunition from the carrier and to detect separation of the submunition from the carrier, and to at least partially arm a submunition fuze based on the detection of expulsion of the submunition from the carrier;
- wherein the second stage is unable to at least partially arm the submunition fuze without the first stage detecting launch of the submunition and the carrier;
- and
- wherein the second stage is arranged to at least partially arm the submunition fuze based on detecting the expulsion prior to detecting the separation.
A fuze arming method for a submunition, the submunition including a submunition fuze, the method comprising:
- detecting launch of the submunition and a carrier associated with the submunition;
- detecting expulsion of the submunition from the carrier;
- detecting separation of the submunition from the carrier;
- and
- at least partially arming the submunition fuze based on the detection of expulsion of the submunition from the carrier, wherein the submunition fuze is unable to be at least partially armed, without detecting the launch of the submunition and the carrier;
- and
- arranging the second stage to at least partially arm the submunition fuze based on detecting the expulsion prior to detecting the separation.
A fuze arming system for a submunition, the system comprising:
- a first stage, arranged to detect launch of the submunition and a carrier associated with the submunition;
- and
- a second stage, arranged to detect both (1) expulsion of the submunition from the carrier and (2) separation of the submunition from the carrier, and to at least partially arm a submunition fuze, wherein detection of expulsion before separation is required to at least partially arm the submunition fuze;
- wherein the second stage is unable to at least partially arm the submunition fuze without the first stage detecting launch of the submunition and its associated carrier;
- and
- wherein the first stage is further arranged to control supply of electrical power to the second stage, conditional on detecting launch of the submunition and the carrier.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.