Passive ammunition magazine for combat vehicles

An ammunition magazine including a plurality of cells for respectively accommodating projectiles in vertical, base down orientations, each cell comprising:

• a support on which a projectile base may rest;
• a backing member positioned at one side of the cell proximate a body of the projectile base support;
• a locking member located at an opposite side of the cell from the backing member and mounted for pivotal movement between a lower release position and an upper locking position, the locking member, when in the locking position, frictionally engaging the projectile body and acting to wedge the projectile against the backing member in response to upward motion of the projectile;
• and
• an operator linked to pivot the locking member between the release and locking positions.
• wherein the pivotal motion of the locking member from the release position to the locking position is in a direction toward the projectile, and the locking member assumes an angular orientation in the locking position of less than 45.degree. relative to horizontal.

An ammunition storage and retrieval apparatus comprising, in combination:

• a magazine including a plurality of cells for accommodating projectiles in vertical, base-down orientations, each cell including:
• a support on which a projectile base may rest;
• a fixed backing member positioned at one side of the cell proximate a body of the projectile while resting on the base support;
• a locking member located at an opposite side of the cell and mounted for pivotal movement about a horizontal axis between a lower release position and an upper locking position, the locking member, when in the locking position, frictionally engaging the projectile body and acting to wedge the projectile against the backing member in response to upward motion of the projectile;
• and
• an operator linked to pivot the locking member between the release and locking positions;
• and
• a traversing upload/download head including:
• a gripper having opposed fingers mounted for pivotal movements in closing directions to grip a projectile and in opening directions to release the projectile,
• a toggle linkage interconnecting the opposed fingers and including a toggle pin,
• a first cam follower connected with the toggle pin,
• a foot movable between an upper position supporting the projectile in elevated relation to the cell support and a lower position below the cell support, the foot including a toe engagable with the cell operator and a second cam follower, and
• a cam engaging the first and second cam follower and driven by the upload/download head to coordinate the opening and closing directional movements of the gripper fingers with vertical movements of the foot between the upper and lower positions, whereby the locking member is controllably pivoted by the operator into the locking position in response to downward movement of the foot and is controllably pivoted into the release position in response to upward movement of the foot.