Sponson tow plate-mounted helicopter armament apparatus and associated methods
OwnerPaul H. Sandersoninventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
External armament apparatus, including a machine gun, an associated ammunition box for supplying belted ammunition to the gun, a flare dispenser, a missile launcher or other external stores apparatus, and a forward looking infrared sensor (FLIR), is exteriorly supported on a landing gear sponson tow plate of a helicopter, adjacent a cabin area gunner's window. The external mounting of the gun and other armament apparatus frees up cabin space, permits the gunner's window to be closed with the gun in a ready position, and permits a 0.50 caliber machine gun to be used an alternative to either a 7.62 mm mini-gun or a single barrel 7.62 mm machine gun adjacent the gunner's window.
Claims7
Armament apparatus for an aircraft, comprising:
- a landing gear structure;
- an elongated support arm having a lower end anchored to said landing gear structure, and an upper end positioned at a higher level than said lower end;
- a machine gun support structure mounted on said upper end of said support arm for azimuth rotation relative thereto about a generally vertical axis, and elevation rotation about a generally horizontal axis;
- and
- an elevation limiting structure associated with said machine gun support structure and operative to variably limit the available elevation rotation arc magnitude of said machine gun support structure in response to azimuth rotation thereof.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.