Add-on missile container for military vehicles

#This invention relates to a missile storage device (container) that can be added to a military vehicle to increase the number of missiles carried by the vehicle. The storage device preferably takes the form of an elongated container having sufficient internal capacity to store two or three missiles; the missiles are carried on pop-up rack structures that automatically bring the missiles out of the container when the container cover is opened.

#In one scenario, two missile storage containers are mounted on exterior surfaces of a military vehicle outboard from a hatch opening. A soldier standing in the vehicle with his upper torso extending through the hatch opening is able to reach each container to remove a missile for loading into a missile launcher carried on the vehicle.

#Preferably each container is formed of armor plate material resistant to enemy small arms fire. Each container has a hinged cover that can be swung upwardly to gain access to the missiles stored within the container. The covers weigh on the order of one hundred to three hundred pounds (depending on size and armor plate thickness). To enable the soldier to open the covers the cover hinges include spring devices operating as counterbalances for the cover weight. The aforementioned pop-up racks also have counterbalancing spring devices associated therewith to promote (facilitate) the desired pop-up action.

#FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a conventional military vehicle having two missile containers thereon designed according to our invention.

#FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the FIG. 1 vehicle.

#FIG. 3 is a rear end elevational view of the FIG. 1 vehicle.

#FIGS. 1 through 3 illustrate a conventional military vehicle 8 having a known missile launcher 20 thereon. Two add-on missile containers 10 and 12 can be accommodated on the vehicle to increase the number of missiles available for firing by launcher 20.

#Missile launcher 20 is in practice a conventional TOW missile launcher (meaning tube-launched, optically tracked, wire guided). Vehicle 8 may be a tracked military vehicle designated by the U.S. Army as the M-2 infantry fighting vehicle. The vehicle comprises a hull 9 having an upper horizontal surface area 11 located behind a rotary turret structure 22; the aforementioned missile launcher 20 is carried on the turret structure so that turret rotation around central axis 13 repositions the launcher into coincidence with selected enemy targets. An elevational drive mechanism in the turret adjusts the launcher in the elevational plane.

#Missile launcher 20 includes two launch tubes 24 positioned one above the other. Each launch tube is designed to accommodate one missile. In the drawings a representative missile is designated by numeral 26. In practice, each missile is a cylindrical structure about four feet long, with a diameter on the order to six inches. Each missile weighs about sixty pounds.