Patent ID: 11932428
Assignee: THE TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY SYSTEM
Field: Transport (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B  F | IPC B  F

Claim 0:
1. A projectile-launched aircraft system, comprising:
a projectile launcher comprising a triggering mechanism;
a rotary-wing, hover-capable aircraft having a first end and a second end longitudinally opposite the first end, wherein the aircraft comprises:
an airframe;
a rotor assembly located at the first end and that comprises at least one rotor blade, wherein the rotor blade comprises a stowed configuration and a deployed configuration that is circumferentially spaced from the stowed configuration about a pivot axis;
a motor assembly coupled to the rotor assembly and configured to rotate the at least one rotor blade; and
a thrust vectoring assembly comprising an annular gimbal assembly having a receptacle that receives the motor assembly whereby the motor assembly is permitted to pivot relative to the airframe about a pair of orthogonal axes;
a cover having one or more exterior fins and, wherein the cover is coupled to the aircraft at the first end thereof when the aircraft is in the stowed configuration and separated from the aircraft when the aircraft is in the deployed configuration;
wherein, upon actuation of the triggering mechanism, the projectile launcher is configured to launch the aircraft, with the second end of the aircraft located upstream from the first end, along a flightpath.