Effector having morphing airframe and method
AssigneeRaytheon Company
InventorsPaul A. Merems, Shawn Patrick Burke
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An effector having an extendible range and a method for extending the range of an effector includes using an axially translatable center body that is movable from a stowed position, in which the center body is stowed in an outer body of the effector, to a deployed position in which the center body extends out of the outer body to extend the axial length of the effector. The effector includes a ramjet assembly and the subsystems of the effector are contained in the center body. The movement of the center body exposes radially positioned ramjet fuel in the outer body, such that the air entering the ramjet inlet may be heated by combusting the air with the fuel for additional fuel and propulsion of the effector.
Claims20
An effector comprising:
- an outer body;
- and
- a center body movable from a stowed position, in which the center body is stowed in the outer body, to a deployed position, in which the center body extends out of the outer body to extend an axial length of the effector.
A gun-launched effector assembly comprising:
- a launcher;
- and
- an effector that is fired from the launcher, the effector having an outer body and a center body that is movable from a stowed position, in which the outer body is stowed in the outer body, to a deployed position, in which the center body is moved out of the outer body to extend an axial length of the effector, the center body moving from the stowed position to the deployed position after a muzzle exit of the effector from the launcher.
A method of increasing a range of an effector, the method comprising axially translating a center body relative to an outer body of the effector to extend an axial length of the effector.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.