Guided missile
OwnerMichael P. Unger, Stephen D. Witherspoon +1inventors
InventorsMichael P. Unger, Stephen D. Witherspoon, James T. Schleining
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A missile (10) comprising a projectile body (20), a payload (60) contained within the nose portion (30), wings (70) stowed within the mid portion (40), and fins (80) stored within the tail portion (50). The wings (70) can be deployed during intermediate stages of the flight path when lift is advantageous, and re-stowed during terminal stages when an almost vertical angle-of-attack is desired. The fins (80) function as stabilizing components during the early ballistic stage of the flight path and function as guiding components thereafter.
Claims20
A missile comprising:
- a projectile body having a fore-aft axis and comprising a nose portion, and a mid portion aft of the nose portion, and a tail portion aft of the mid portion;
- a bearing coupler within the projectile body allowing at least a part of the tail portion to rotate freely relative to the mid portion about the fore-aft axis;
- a clutch within the projectile body that engages/disengages to selectively allow/prevent rotation of the at least part of the tail portion;
- wings, stowed within pockets in the mid portion, that extend to deployed positions outside of the projectile body;
- and
- fins stored within slots in the at least part of the tail portion, wherein the fins are biased to extend radially outward in roll-stabilizing orientations.
A method of missile flight, the method comprising:
- launching a missile from a launch unit;
- deploying fins of the missile;
- during an initial roll-stabilized flight regime, allowing free rotation of a tail of the missile that includes the fins;
- and
- after the roll-stabilized flight regime, engaging a clutch of the missile to prevent tail rotation.
A missile comprising:
- a projectile body having a fore-aft axis and comprising a nose portion, and a mid portion aft of the nose portion, and a tail portion aft of the mid portion;
- a bearing coupler within the projectile body allowing at least a part of the tail portion to rotate freely relative to the mid portion about the fore-aft axis;
- a clutch within the projectile body that engages/disengages to selectively allow/prevent tail rotation;
- wings, stowed within pockets in the mid portion, each having an airfoil and a leading edge;
- a deployer, within the mid portion, that selectively deploys the wings from the pockets to deployed positions whereat their leading edges extend radially outward from the aft-fore axis in lift-imparting orientations;
- fins stored within slots the tail portion and biased to extend radially outward from the aft-fore axis with their leading edges in roll-stabilizing orientations;
- an obturator maintaining the fins within the slots;
- and
- a deflector that deflects the fins from their roll-stabilizing orientations to angularly align their leading edges relative to the aft-fore axis in direction-controlling orientations.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.