Apparatus and methods for variable sweep body conformal wing with application to projectiles, missiles, and unmanned air vehicles

An unmanned air vehicle (“UAV”) for delivery of a payload and for extended range operation comprising,

• a body,
• a body-conformal wing, wherein said body-conformal wing is configured to form the outer surface of said UAV body when it is an an un-deployed position, thereby having a seamless outer-mold-line conformal to the UAV body,
• the body conformal wing is of elliptical or quasi-elliptic platform shape and its airfoil designs are to satisfy the low drag and large lift to drag ratio requirement for optimal aerodynamic performance and to satisfy containment requirements under high-G conditions during a gun launch,
• further comprising in its un-deployed condition, an outer-mold-line completely compliant with that of an axi-symmetric body or a body of revolution, allowing it to be gun launched, tube launched or aircraft launched,
• a control pivot mechanism to actuate the wing to perform variable wing sweep and wing-incidence according to a pre-set schedule in order to achieve optimal flight performance throughout the trajectory,
• control surfaces for stability and for flight control,
• said control surfaces comprise a set of fins, for pitch-yaw control, said wing for roll control, canards for pitch-yaw control, wherein said fins are necessary for de-spinning and stabilizing,
• ascending and descending trajectories throughout a plurality of flight phases, wherein the UAV is in a ballistic trajectory phrase when in its ascending phase and a gliding trajectory phase in its descending phase,
• wherein said fins and a boat-tail are deployed in the ballistic phase,
• wherein said fins, said wing, a wing extension and canards are deployed during the gliding phase.