Apparatus and method for ballistic protection of vehicle undercarriages

A vehicle-mounted ballistic protection apparatus of generally elongate configuration comprising:

• a. a military vehicle having thereon front and rear assemblies for mounting said apparatus below its undercarriage in either forward and rearward directions of travel;
• b. interfacing means on said apparatus to cooperatively mate with the front and rear assemblies on said vehicle thereby deploying the apparatus below the vehicle and longitudinally extending said apparatus between vehicle propulsive means during travel to thereby afford ballistic protection to the vehicle crew compartment;
• and
• c. a plurality of rotating rollers for continuous terrain contact embedded within a multiplicity of links having bores at opposing ends of each link for rotationally receiving axle ends of said rollers between alternating links and thereby flexibly holding together said rollers and links by placement of chain retention means over said axle ends and against exposed outboard link faces to achieve a flexible roller link chain pivotally held together.

Method for ballistic protection of vehicle undercarriages comprising the steps of:

• a. producing an apparatus comprising a plurality of rotating rollers for continuous terrain contact embedded within a multiplicity of chain links having bores at opposing ends of each link for rotationally receiving therein axle ends of said rollers between alternating links to thereby flexibly hold together said rollers and links with placement of chain retention means over said axle ends and against outboard exposed link faces to achieve a flexible roller link chain pivotally held together;
• b. preparing interfacing means on said apparatus to cooperatively mate with the front and rear assemblies on said vehicle thereby deploying the apparatus below the vehicle and longitudinally extending said apparatus between vehicle propulsive means during travel to thereby afford ballistic protection to the vehicle crew compartment;
• and
• c. furnishing a military vehicle having thereon front and rear assemblies for mounting said apparatus below its undercarriage in either forward and rearward directions of travel.