Weapon Platform Research Articles

Recoil considerations for railguns

The firing of any gun, electromagnetic or otherwise, imparts substantial momentum to the launcher, and ultimately the weapon platform. The objectives of the future combat system program call for similar lethality to a current heavy tank on an extremely lightweight vehicle of nominally twenty tons. Prior experience with the M551 Sheridan, a light tank first put into production by the United States in 1966, raises concern that firing large caliber armaments from light vehicles may result in unacceptable crew discomfort and vehicular reaction during recoil. It is the purpose of this paper to provide a future combat system armament integration perspective for railgun recoil.

Optimum control of a mechanical drive for a weapon platform

Remote positioning drive systems for weapon platform slewing are investigated. A linear, multivariable system model is derived. Regulation strategies based on polynomial functions generated by the controller model are proposed. Conventional, frequency domain, relative stability techniques are employed in conjunction with phase lead-lag compensation. An optimum, minimum control effort solution is presented.

Minimizing life-cycle costs of gun propellant selection through model-based decision making: a case study in environmental screening and performance testing

The work presented here demonstrates the first phases of a newly-proposed gun propellant formulation process that will minimize life-cycle costs through science-based design. This new approach to gun propellant formulation proposes maximal use of modeling and simulation in the earliest phases of the developmental cycle to screen candidate formulations, resulting in the elimination of probable poor performers and the identification of the most promising candidates for further study and testing. The screening and identification of promising candidate formulations is demonstrated in the study presented here under the assumption of a specific weapon platform and user requirements. The process of selecting a propellant for the assumed gun system application has been distilled into a series of measurable steps leading from a set of candidate materials, through logical and numerical filters, to a shorter list of energetic materials demonstrated as viable choices for the weapon platform. Environmental filtering and performance modeling are used to screen propellants through a well-defined sequence of tests designed to weed out materials that do not meet standards in terms of safety, energy, or manufacturability. Because much of the testing is performed by computer modeling, the gun systems and energetic materials need not be present (nor even existent) in order to be described and matched against performance requirements for future applications. The calculations presented here demonstrate that utilizing computer models in the early developmental stages of the formulation process rather than physical testing produces enormous savings in labor, material, and environmental costs, along with a tremendous reduction in the time required to select a "best candidate" propellant.

Restructuring the U.S. Defense Industry

The end of the Cold War produced major changes in the U.S. defense sector. More than 2 million defense workers, military personnel, and civil servants have lost their jobs. Thousands of arms have left the industry. More than one hundred military bases have closed, and the production of weapons is down considerably. As signiacant as these changes are, they do not address the key issues in restructuring the post–Cold War defense sector. The Reagan-era defense buildup led contractors to invest in huge production capacity that no longer is needed. This capacity overhang includes too many open factories, each of which produces a “legacy” system that was designed for the Cold War. Many individual defense plants are also too large to produce efaciently at post–Cold War levels of demand. Until this excess capacity is eliminated, the United States will continue to spend too much on defense. The politics of jobs and congressional districts that many analysts thought governed the Cold War have triumphed in its aftermath. Today, years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, not one Cold War weapon platform line has closed in the United States. 1 The same factories still produce the same aircraft, ships, and armored vehicles (or their incremental descendants). During the Cold War, the high level of perceived security threat increased U.S. policymakers’ respect for military advice on weapons procurement and research and development (R&D) decisions. The military services’ expert knowledge checked Congress’s pork barrel instincts, and failed or unneeded weapon systems were often canceled. Today, however, contractors and congres

Mechanical drive control

Mechanical drives, for weapon platforms, comprising relatively long shafts with inertia discs, representing the motor armature, gearing, platform and load inertias, etc., are considered. Analysis procedures are employed to model a system which has driving and braking torque inputs. Two outputs arising from the motor armature angular changes and the load inertia position, which is to be regulated, are available. Procedures enabling the dominant oscillatory modes of the system to be influenced by proportional control are outlined. Performance enhancement using passive networks is employed, providing thereby further design flexibility. The responses of the system under open- and closed-loop conditions are computed. The simplicity of the approach which can also be applied to systems having an unequal number of inputs and outputs is commented upon.

Army focused research team on functionally graded armor composites

With the emphasis on smaller but more mobile combat forces to meet a broad range of mission requirements, future weapon platforms and upgrades will require materials to do better, do more, weigh less, size less and cost less. Metal matrix composites (MMCs) are such material candidates for niche Army applications such as armor, armaments, and vehicle structures. Under the shadow of shrinking resources, a focused research team (FRT) composed of the US Army Research Laboratory (ARL), academia, and small business was assembled to address MMC issues for Army applications. The immediate focus of this team is on the development of MMCs with a tailored ceramic-to-metal through-thickness gradient known as functionally graded armor composites (FGACs). The goal is to provide the science and technology to deliver a high space and mass efficient armor material for ballistic protection against light to medium threats. Technical issues being addressed by this team encompass the role of microstructure in affecting the dynamic flow and ballistic performance of FGACs, high-resolution non-destructive evaluation (NDE) techniques, joining FGACs to dissimilar materials, and the availability of versatile low-cost near-net-shape processing of FGACs. In this paper, highlights from these activities are presented. They include high-strain-rate testing and modeling, apertureless near-field optical scanning microscopy (ANSOM) of FGACs, micro- and nano-scale self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) reactions, ballistic evaluation, and pressure assisted casting. These efforts represent key technologies necessary for prompt delivery of FGAC technology to the warfighter.

Missile systems: “Flexible modularity” and incremental technological change in military production∗

It is often stated that technological change in the military field is characterised by the introduction of radical innovations rather than by incremental processes of technological change. This article illustrates the diversity of military innovation by arguing that technological change in missiles systems is dominated by incremental change. While some large weapons platforms display the design rigidities normally associated with complex systems, missiles are characterised by “flexible modularity”. Flexible modularity facilitates the continuous introduction of upgrades, and makes missile systems amenable to gradual technological change. Besides, it has significant implications for the future role of missile systems, and poses special problems for missile disarmament and technology control initiatives.

The ASEAN naval build‐up: Implications for the regional order

Abstract This paper examines the ongoing ASEAN force modernization in the light of whether it is stabilizing or destabilizing for the region. Donald K. Emmerson's framework for analysing security regimes — the concentration or dispersion of power in achieving regional order — is employed as a basis for analysis. The paper comes to the conclusion that while the ASEAN arms build‐up will not have a destabilizing effect on the wider Asia‐Pacific regional order or balance, it could have serious implications for ASEAN and Southeast Asia. This is because while the actual increase in the number of weapon systems and platforms is not large, it still constitutes a significant increase in percentage terms, and even more so with regard to capability. Moreover, the ASEAN members are building up their forces at a time when there are no obvious military threats. They are in effect engaged in contingency planning. All these factors could be destabilizing for ASEAN's internal balance. As such, there is a need for ASEAN to...

Analogues of stealth: Submarines and aircraft

Abstract “Analogues of Stealth “ questions whether stealth technologies (measures designed to reduce the observable signature of a weapons platform) now being applied to aircraft will prove as successful as low‐observable technologies and tactics employed by the submarine. To address that question, the article briefly explores the history of antisubmarine warfare, notes the failures of various technologies designed to counter the submarine, and suggests analogues between stealthy platforms in the sea and in the air. When these analogies are drawn, many of the same reasons the submarine has proved so difficult to detect, track, fix, and kill also appear to apply to stealthy aircraft. The friction of combat, the ability of aviators to modify their tactics, the technology of denying more than fleeting radar contracts, and the problem of looking for small things in large volumes all apply. If the submarine is an indicator, the strategic advantages inherent in low‐observable aircraft may determine air superior...

A Neural Network-Based Optimization Algorithm for the Static Weapon-Target Assignment Problem

A neural network-based algorithm was developed for the static weapon-target assignment problem in ballistic missile defense. An optimal assignment policy is one which allocates targets to weapon platforms such that the total expected leakage value of targets surviving the defense is minimized. This involves the minimization of a nonlinear objective function subject to inequality constraints specifying the maximum number of interceptors available to each platform and the maximum number of interceptors allowed to be fired at each target as imposed by the battle management/command control and communications system. The algorithm consists of solving a system of ordinary differential equations whose trajectories are the assignment variables of the problem. Simulations of the algorithm on PC and VAX computers were carried out using a simple numerical scheme. In all the battle instances tested, the algorithm has proven to be stable and to converge to solutions very close to global optima. The time to achieve convergence was consistently less than the time constant of the network's processing elements (neurons). This suggests that fast solutions can be realized if the algorithm is implemented in hardware circuits. Three series of battle scenarios are analyzed and discussed in detail. The main advantage of this algorithm is that it can be adapted to either a special-purpose hardware circuit or a general-purpose concurrent machine to yield fast and accurate solutions to difficult decision problems. INFORMS Journal on Computing, ISSN 1091-9856, was published as ORSA Journal on Computing from 1989 to 1995 under ISSN 0899-1499.

Improved pulse power sources with high-energy density capacitor

The authors report on work done to demonstrate a concept that provides a nonnuclear space power system to be used on SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative) weapons platforms. The characteristics of a proposed high-power pulse energy system, formed by combining a recently developed high-energy density capacitor with various batteries, were investigated. The main advantages of the system thus far appear to be high power and pulse energy density and flexibility in energy outputs. Parametric relationships between most key design variables, such as average pulse power, system output voltages, load impedance, pulse width, pulse frequency, duty cycle and battery voltage and current limits, were established. Projections of the system's weights in large-scale applications suggested that the lithium/SO/sub 2/ battery considered might be too heavy when high duty cycles were required. However, significant weight reductions could be foreseen with proper selection of the battery and further advances in the capacitor technology.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Airborne platform capability assessment

It is expected that the multimode weapons systems of the future will be highly fault tolerant, possessing the ability to perform tactical missions with both full or degraded functional capabilities. The fault-tolerant system characteristics will allow systems with less than the fully specified functional capabilities to be engaging in combat. This design feature will present the operators of these weapons system with the operational challenge of selecting and/or assigning weapons platforms with degraded capabilities to carry out tactical missions. An in-system assessment process is proposed to evaluate the operability for these weapons platforms on the basis of current functional status, the reliability of the hardware resources within the system's avionics, and the resources required by the various application modes to accomplish mission tasks. >

INDICATED DIRECTION FOR NEW CRAFT DEVELOPMENT

Naval Engineers JournalVolume 78, Issue 3 p. 409-420 INDICATED DIRECTION FOR NEW CRAFT DEVELOPMENT A. G. ELDREDGE JR., A. G. ELDREDGE JR. The Author is Equipment Coordinator, Unconventional Warfare, Ships Systems Command in the Naval Material Command. He received his education in Naval Architecture from the University of Illinois, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Columbia University; and in Management from the George Washington University. Mr. Eldredge has occupied his present position since 1961 after joining the then Bureau of Ships in 1952. His conceptual contributions to Naval Engineering and its application have been numerous and important. They include the gas turbine powered 36′ amphibious assault minesweeper launch, swimmer high speed pickup system for V.D.T., and PGH, the marsh screw Amphibian, and the Swift Patrol Boat. He wrote the chapter on Weapons Platforms in “Revolutionary Warfare” and with Captain J. H. Bowell, USN, prepared a study for the JCS concerning the application of patrol craft to counter insurgency.Search for more papers by this author A. G. ELDREDGE JR., A. G. ELDREDGE JR. The Author is Equipment Coordinator, Unconventional Warfare, Ships Systems Command in the Naval Material Command. He received his education in Naval Architecture from the University of Illinois, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Columbia University; and in Management from the George Washington University. Mr. Eldredge has occupied his present position since 1961 after joining the then Bureau of Ships in 1952. His conceptual contributions to Naval Engineering and its application have been numerous and important. They include the gas turbine powered 36′ amphibious assault minesweeper launch, swimmer high speed pickup system for V.D.T., and PGH, the marsh screw Amphibian, and the Swift Patrol Boat. He wrote the chapter on Weapons Platforms in “Revolutionary Warfare” and with Captain J. H. Bowell, USN, prepared a study for the JCS concerning the application of patrol craft to counter insurgency.Search for more papers by this author First published: June 1966 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-3584.1966.tb05070.x AboutPDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume78, Issue3June 1966Pages 409-420 RelatedInformation