Abstract:
A missile to be fired from a barrel contains a tail, a tail sleeve attached to the tail, a stop element fixed to the tail sleeve, and a movable structural part disposed at the tail. Fin assembly wings are provided and are to be released from a subcaliber launch position to an overcaliber functional position by the movable structural part moving toward the stop element through a given distance. A pressure area is disposed between the tail end surface and the movable structural part. A propellant gas enters the pressure area during the firing of the missile, for moving the movable structural part away from the tail end surface against the stop element after firing. Bearing shafts are supported by the tail sleeve, the fin assembly wings are configured as a wrap around tail fin assembly held about the bearing shafts.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
   This application is a national stage application of International Application No. PCT/E03/01151, filed Feb. 6, 2003, under 35 U.S.C. § 371. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   Field of the Invention 
   The invention relates to a missile which can be fired like a mortar from a barrel and, based on the preamble of claim  1 , is equipped with a fin assembly which can be deployed to an overcaliber functional position and which may be gliding wings or, in particular, tail control surfaces or stabilizers. 
   When a missile with an overcaliber fin assembly is fired from a barrel, the process of deploying the stabilizers (which, for example, are articulated on the tail of the missile) is not initiated until the missile has left the barrel. Unlocking devices, matched to the respective structure, are known especially for this purpose. By way of example, DE 34 32 614 A1 discloses a missile having an inflatable body which is folded up in the rest state and has a high-pressure gas from a pressurized container applied to it in order to unfold the missile wings, as a result of which it expands in the radial direction, and thus exerts a force on the folded-up wings. 
   US 2001/030260 A1 discloses the arrangement of a structural part, which is in the form of a piston, such that it can move within a tail sleeve on the missile, such that a pressure area remains free between the piston and a tail end surface of the missile and which is filled with high-pressure propellant gas in a manner which is not described in any more detail in the course of the missile being launched from its launch barrel. On leaving the muzzle of the barrel, this leads to a pressure which is very much higher than the surrounding atmospheric pressure, so that the piston is moved to a stop element, in the opposite direction to the launch movement. In this position, the entire length (which is subsequently telescopic) of folding wings which are mounted on the piston at the rearward end leave the tail sleeve so that they can now swivel radially outwards to their overcaliber position. However, this results in the major structural and functional risk of the folding wings being mounted axially well behind the end of the tail sleeve which, owing to lack of effective longitudinal guidance of the piston which is moved against the stop, can lead to instabilities, which have an adverse effect on flight, owing to the load on the wings in the free-flight incident flow. 
   Rather than for retention of folding wings in their subcaliber launch position in the barrel, for deployment of the wings after leaving the barrel, U.S. Pat. No. 4,702,436 A discloses the use of a pot, which is filled with high-pressure propellant gas from the weapon barrel during the launching process, being allowed to rest against a pivoting lever on the folding wings, so that the relative sudden pressure rise on leaving the muzzle of the barrel forces the folding wings to swivel outwards to the overcaliber functional position as a result of the axial movement of the pot. Because no provision is made for active retention of the folding wings in their subcaliber launch position, so that, in practice, it cannot be expected that the wing edges will slide along the inner wall of the barrel during the acceleration in the firing barrel, there is a risk of damage to the wing edges, which are important for the flow behavior, and this damage can lead to the missile having an unstable free-flight behavior. 
   DE 35 07 677 A1 discloses a missile having a fin assembly in particular in the form of control surfaces which are held on the tail structure such that they can swivel and are articulated transversely with respect to the missile longitudinal axis, which ensures that the control surfaces are held in a position matching the caliber until after firing from the barrel, and which control surfaces can then be released in a defined manner after firing. In this case, interlocks by means of locking pins are provided between each control surface end surface and the casing surface of the tail structure for this purpose. The acceleration during firing results in each locking pin being moved against its holder, thus allowing the respective control surface to swivel out to its overcaliber functional position. 
   A missile with an overcaliber fin assembly, whose control surfaces are folded into the missile structure for storage, for transport and for launch, and are locked at the end in this position-until they are allowed to unfold from a locked position by virtue of the launch acceleration is also known, by way of example, from DE 37 21 512 C1. In order to produce a physically small, functional safety device which releases all of the control surfaces for deployment at the same time—but not too early—a ram is provided, which engages in all of the control surfaces at the same time, can be moved axially with respect to them in the launch direction, but does not move to the release position for all of the control surfaces at the same time until the missile launch acceleration has been reduced. 
   As a consequence of their locking devices, which have to be designed specifically for the particular fin assembly, all of these known missiles have a more or less complex configuration. In order to avoid such a relatively complicated configuration, it is also known, in the case of missiles which are fired from a smooth barrel, that is to say a barrel without any rifling, for the fin assembly surfaces (which are provided at the tail of the missile and can be deployed from a folded-up storage or launch position to an unfolded functional position, that is to say flight position, simply to be allowed to rest radially against the smooth inner casing surface of the barrel when in the folded-up position. This is particularly expedient when these fin assembly surfaces are not control surfaces (so-called fins) or wings which are articulated about axes transversely with respect to the longitudinal direction of the missile such that they can be swiveled out in or in the opposite direction to the launch direction, but are so-called wrap around tail fin assemblies. In the case of fin assemblies such as these, fin assemblies in the form of shells rest on the casing surface of the tail structure of the missile when in the launch position, with a matching caliber. They are forced with a certain amount of prestressing radially over a large area against the interior of the barrel, in order then to swivel out about axes parallel to the longitudinal axis of the missile when they are mechanically released as a consequence of leaving the launch barrel. 
   However, if a missile is intended to be spin-stabilized, and therefore is intended to be fired from a barrel equipped with rifling, then the extreme acceleration forces which occur in the barrel make it impossible to avoid damage caused by the rifling cutting into the fin assembly surfaces as they slide along the rifling, and this can critically influence the functionality of the missile in free flight after this, for example because the directional stability is adversely affected. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   Against the background of the knowledge of these features, the invention is based on the object of providing a missile, particularly in the form of a spin-stabilized mortar round, which has a simple design, with the wings which are provided at the tail of the missile being fixed reliably and securely by means of simple design measures in the folded-up subcaliber, launch or storage position, and the wings being reliably released in order to deploy to their overcaliber functional position after leaving the barrel. 
   According to the invention, this object is achieved by the features of claim  1 . Preferred refinements and developments of the missile according to the invention are specified in the dependent claims. 
   The missile (which, according to the invention, is equipped with a locking pot for holding fin assembly surfaces in the subcaliber position) has the advantage that the locking pot reliably and securely fixes the wings, which are provided at the tail of the missile, in the folded-up storage or launch position. The locking pot thus also has an optimum protection function with regard to handling requirements in a magazine. This protection function relates not only to the fin assembly surfaces which have been mentioned, but also to further missile ballistic and sensor structures which are located on the tail side of the propellant charge gas area in the barrel. A further very major advantage of the missile equipped according to the invention is that the locking pot is reliably moved from its holding position to the release position, without the use of any external energy, immediately after the missile emerges from the barrel, in order thus to allow the control surfaces or fin assembly surfaces such as these to deploy. This is achieved by means of the increased pressure of the propellant gases which are produced behind the missile in the barrel by the burning propellant means in order to fire the missile from the barrel. This pressure can briefly reach orders of magnitude of up to 100 bar or more. The high-pressure propellant gas passes through the propellant gas inlet in the pot base of the locking pot into the interior of the locking pot behind the missile tail. After leaving the barrel, this high pressure inside the pot is suddenly opposed only by the atmospheric pressure, so that the locking pot is quickly and reliably moved from the holding position to the release position by the internal increased propellant gas pressure, thus allowing the wings or a fin assembly such as this to swivel out to their or its overcaliber functional position. This process of swiveling out takes place under the influence of the centrifugal forces of the missile which has been fired such that it spins, and can be further assisted in a known manner by suitable drive systems such as spring elements, a pyrotechnic force element, or the like. The locking pot remains at the tail of the missile, that is to say one advantageous feature is that there are no parts which fly away with the missile according to the invention. 
   In the missile according to the invention, holding pins for the fin assembly wings can project outwards from the pot casing of the locking pot. If the missile is designed in this way, the fin assembly wings may be designed to have axially oriented cutouts for the holding pins at their rear edge, which is oriented in the circumferential direction. Another option is for the fin assembly wings to have attachments for the holding pins, with these attachments projecting away from their distal, axially oriented longitudinal edge. The holding pins may each have a pin which projects radially away from the pot casing and, at the distal end of the respective pin, a holding member (which is oriented axially forwards) for the fin assembly wings. The holding pins are in this case designed to be subcaliber. 
   Each of the cutouts at the rear edge of the fin assembly wing may have a longitudinal extent which is slightly greater than the axial longitudinal extent of the holding member of the associated holding pin, in order to reliably release the respective fin assembly wing when the locking pot is moved from its holding position to its release position by the propellant gas. In order to ensure that the locking pot is held captive on the missile according to the invention, a stop element (which defines the release position of the locking pot) may be provided behind the locking pot at the tail of the missile, and is located at an axially defined distance from the rear tail end surface of the missile. 
   In the case of the missile according to the invention, it is also possible for a shear pin, which has a weak point to project radially inwards from the respective fin assembly wing and can be sheared off by means of a shearing section on the pot casing of the locking pot. In this case, the pot casing of the locking pot may have projections, which project radially and form shearing sections, by means of which the shear pins of the fin assembly wings can be sheared off at their weak points. 
   The stop element, which defines the release position of the locking pot may be formed by a ring which is attached to the rear end of a tail sleeve, with the internal diameter of the ring being smaller than the internal diameter of the tail sleeve. The tail sleeve may have elongated holes through which the holding pins extend. The holding sleeve may also have axially oriented longitudinal cutouts, in each of which a bearing element is provided for an associated fin assembly wing. The fin assembly wings are so-called wrap around tail fin assembly wings. 
   The ring may have an external thread, with the tail sleeve having an internal threaded section matched to it, in order to attach the stop element, which is formed by a ring, to the tail sleeve. 
   According to the invention, the pot casing of the locking pot may be provided such that it can move axially between the holding position and the release position, between the cylindrical inner surface of the tail sleeve and a cylindrical surface of the tail. At least one sealing ring may be provided between the cylindrical surface of the tail and the pot casing of the locking pot. 
   The missile which can be fired according to the invention from a barrel thus has a very simple design in order to ensure that its tail fin assembly is still in the subcaliber position during launching, with the locking pot not only having a protection function for the fin assembly, which must still be held folded up, and tail ballistic and sensor structures, but, furthermore, also ensuring that the tail fin assembly of the missile is released reliably. Jettisoning of the locking pot from the tail of the missile is in this case advantageously prevented. 
   Further details, features and advantages will become evident from the following description of exemplary embodiments, which are illustrated in the drawing, of the missile according to the invention and of major details of the missile. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  shows a longitudinal section through one embodiment (a detail of which is shown) of the missile and of its tail section along the section line I—I in  FIG. 2 , 
       FIG. 2  shows a section along the section line II—II in  FIG. 1  through the tail of the missile, 
       FIG. 3  shows a section along the angled section line III—III in  FIG. 2 , in order to illustrate the locking pot with holding pins, with the corresponding fin assembly wing being shown in the upper half of the drawing, with the aid of the associated holding pin, which is in the holding position, in the subcaliber launch position while the lower half of the drawing shows the corresponding fin assembly wing in its released, overcaliber functional position, 
       FIG. 4  shows, in the form of a longitudinal section, a detail view corresponding to the upper half of  FIG. 3 , 
       FIG. 5  shows a view of the missile detail shown in  FIG. 4 , looking in the direction of the arrow V, that is to say viewed from above, 
       FIG. 6  shows a view, similar to that in  FIG. 5 , of a detail of another embodiment of the missile, and 
       FIG. 7  shows a section illustration through a detail, similar to that in  FIG. 4 , of yet another embodiment of the missile. 
   

   DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     FIG. 1  shows a detail in the form of a longitudinal section of the tail  10  of a missile  12  which can be fired from a barrel. As can be seen from  FIG. 2 , wrap around fin assembly wings  14  are provided at the tail  10  of the missile  12 , and can be moved from a subcaliber launch position (see  FIG. 3 , upper half of the drawing) to an overcaliber functional position (see  FIGS. 1 and 2  and the lower half of the drawing in  FIG. 3 ). 
   A locking pot  16  is provided at the tail  10 , and has a pot base  18  and a pot casing  20 . The fin assembly wings  14  are held in their launch position with the aid of the locking pot  16 . 
   There is a pressure area  24  between the rear tail end surface  22  of the tail  10  of the missile  12  and the pot base  18  of the locking pot  16 . The pot base  18  has a propellant gas inlet  26 , which opens into the pressure area  24 . When the missile  12  is fired from a barrel, which is not shown, propellant gas is forced through the propellant gas inlet  26  into the pressure area  24 , thus resulting in a correspondingly high pressure in the order of magnitude of up to 100 bar or more in the pressure area  24 . Immediately after leaving the barrel, the pressure difference between the external environmental pressure and the high propellant gas pressure in the pressure area  24  comes into effect, as a result of which the locking pot  16  is moved axially backwards from the holding position (which is shown in  FIG. 1  and in the upper half of the drawing in  FIG. 3 ) to a release position. This is indicated by the arrow  28  in the upper half of the drawing in  FIG. 3 . 
   At its rear edge  30  running in the circumferential direction, each fin assembly wing  14  has an axially oriented cutout  32  (see  FIGS. 3 ,  4  and  5 ). Holding pins  34  project outwards from the pot casing  20  of the locking pot  16 . One of these holding pins  34  is shown in the upper half of the drawing in  FIG. 3 . Each holding pin  34  has a pin  36 , which projects radially away from the pot casing  20 , and, at the distal end of the pin  36 , a holding member  38 , which is oriented axially forwards. When the locking pot  16  is in the holding position, the holding member  38 , which is oriented forwards, grips the associated fin assembly wing  14  and holds it firmly in the subcaliber launch position. Once the missile has left the barrel and the propellant gas pressure in the pressure area  24  comes into effect, the locking pot  16  is moved axially backwards, away from the rear tail end surface  22 . In the process, the holding pins  34 , which project away from the locking pot  16 , are moved backwards in a corresponding manner, so that the holding members  38 , which are oriented forwards, no longer grip and firmly hold the fin assembly wings  14 , but release them. The fin assembly wings  14  can be moved to the overcaliber functional position by the spinning effect. Cutouts  32  have an axial longitudinal extent  40  (see  FIG. 3 ) which is slightly greater than the longitudinal extent  42  of the holding member  38 , which is oriented forwards, of the associated holding pin  34 . 
   In the release position, the locking pot  16  remains at the tail  10  of the missile. A stop element  44  is provided for this purpose behind the locking pot  16  at the tail  10  of the missile  12 , and defines the release position of the locking pot  16 . The stop element  44  is formed by a ring  46 , which has an external thread  48 . A tail sleeve  50  is attached to the tail  10  of the missile  12 , and has an internal threaded section  52  at its rear end. The external thread  48  on the ring  46  is screwed into the internal threaded section  52  in the tail sleeve  50 , so that the ring  46  is firmly connected to the tail sleeve  50 . 
   The tail sleeve has longitudinal cutouts  54  (see  FIG. 2 ) parallel to the axis, in each of which an associated bearing element  56  is mounted. Each bearing element  56  extends between a rear collar  58  and a front collar  60  on the tail sleeve  50 . Associated with the respective bearing element  56 , the rear collar  58  and the front collar  60  have holes  62  and  64 , which are axially aligned with one another and are used to hold a bearing shaft  66 . The associated fin assembly wing  14  is fitted to the respective bearing shaft  66 . 
   The stop element  44 , which is in the form of a ring  46 , is at an axially defined distance from the rear tail end surface  22  of the missile tail  10 , that is to say the axial distance  68  (see  FIG. 3 ) between the stop element  44  and the pot base  18  of the locking pot  16  (when it is in the holding position) is matched to the difference  70  between the axial longitudinal size  40  of the cutout  32  of the respective fin assembly wing  14  and the axial size  72  of the pin  36  (which projects radially away from the pot casing  20 ) of the associated holding pin  34 , that is to say the axial distance  68  is, for example, slightly less than said difference  70 , which is greater than the size  72 , so that the fin assembly wings  14  are reliably released when the locking pot  16  is in the release position. 
   In order to hold the locking pot  16  firmly on the tail  10  of the missile  12 , reliably and in a captive manner, when in the release position, the ring  46  on the stop element  44  has an internal diameter  74  which is smaller than the internal diameter  76  of the tail sleeve  50  (see  FIG. 3 ). 
   The pot casing  20  of the locking pot  16  can move axially between the cylindrical inner surface  78  of the tail sleeve  50  and a cylindrical surface  80  of the tail  10  of the missile  12 . 
   The tail sleeve  50  has elongated holes  82 , which correspond to the axially oriented cutouts  32  on the rear edge  30  of the fin assembly wings  14  and are coincident with them. 
   Identical details in  FIGS. 1 ,  2  and  3  are each annotated with the same reference numbers, so that there is no need to describe each of them in detail as individual features in conjunction with all of the figures. 
     FIG. 4  shows a detail of the upper half of the tail  10  of the missile  12 , with the fin assembly wing  14  being held in its subcaliber launch position by means of the associated holding pin  34 , which projects radially away from the pot casing  20  of the locking pot  16 . 
   Identical details are annotated with the same reference numbers in  FIG. 4  as in  FIG. 3 , so that there is no need to describe all of these individual figures in detail once again in conjunction with  FIG. 4 . 
     FIG. 5  shows a detail of a fin assembly wing  14  with its rear edge  30 , which is oriented in the circumferential direction and has an axially oriented cutout  32 . The tail sleeve  50  has axially oriented elongated holes  82 , through which the pins  36 , which project radially away from the pot casing  20  of the locking pot  16 , of the holding pins  30  pass (see  FIGS. 4 and 5 ). 
   In comparison to the embodiment shown in  FIG. 5 ,  FIG. 6  shows an embodiment of the missile  12  with wrap around fin assembly wings  14 , of which the lower fin assembly wing  14  in  FIG. 6  is shown, with its bearing shaft  66 . Each fin assembly wing  14  has a rear edge  30 , a proximal, axially oriented longitudinal edge  84  adjacent to the bearing shaft  66 , and a distal, axially oriented longitudinal edge  86  at a distance from it. An attachment  88  projects away from the distal longitudinal edge  86  of the respective fin assembly wing  14  in the circumferential direction. When the fin assembly wings  14  are in the subcaliber launch position, the attachment  88  is held firmly by means of the holding member  38 , which is oriented forwards, of the associated holding pin  34  of the locking pot  16 . In this embodiment of the missile  12  as well, the holding pin  34  extends through an elongated hole  82  in the tail sleeve  50 . 
   Identical details are once again annotated with the same reference numbers in  FIG. 6  as in  FIGS. 1 to 5 , so that there is no need to describe all of the individual features once again in detail in conjunction with  FIG. 6 . 
   In a detail in the form of a longitudinal section illustration similar to that in  FIG. 4 ,  FIG. 7  shows an embodiment of the missile  12  with rear wrap around fin assembly wings  14 , of which a detail of one fin assembly wing  14  is illustrated in  FIG. 7 . A shear pin  90  projects radially inwards from each of the fin assembly wings  14 , and each shear pin  90  has a weak point  92 . 
   The pot casing  20  of the locking pot  16  has projections  94  which project away radially and form shearing sections  96 , by means of which the shear pins  90  are sheared off at the weak points  92  when the locking pot  16  is moved backwards by the propellant gas pressure in the pressure area  24  when the missile  12  leaves the barrel (which is not shown). 
   In this embodiment as well, the tail sleeve  50  has elongated holes  82  into which projections  94 , which form the shearing sections  96  for the shear pins  90 , of the locking pot  16  project. 
   Identical details are annotated with the same reference numbers in  FIG. 7  as in  FIGS. 1 to 6 , so that there is no need to describe all of these individual features in detail once again in conjunction with  FIG. 7 . 
   List of Reference Symbols 
   
       
         10  Tail (of  12 ) 
         12  Missile 
         14  Fin assembly wing (on  10 ) 
         16  Locking pot (for  14 ) 
         18  Pot base (of  16 ) 
         20  Pot casing (of  16 ) 
         22  Rear tail end surface (of  10 ) 
         24  Pressure area (between  22  and  18 ) 
         26  Propellant gas inlet (in  16 ) 
         28  Arrow 
         30  Rear edge (of  14 ) 
         32  Cutout (in  30 ) 
         34  Holding pin (on  20  for  14 ) 
         36  Pin (of  34 ) 
         38  Holding member which is oriented forwards (on  36 ) 
         40  Longitudinal extent (of  32 ) 
         42  Longitudinal extent (of  38 ) 
         44  Stop element (on  10  for  16 ) 
         46  Ring (of  44 ) 
         48  External thread (on  46 ) 
         50  Tail sleeve (on  10 ) 
         52  Internal threaded section (in  50 ) 
         54  Longitudinal cutout (in  50 ) 
         56  Bearing element (in  54 ) 
         58  Rear collar (on  50 ) 
         60  Front collar (on  50 ) 
         62  Hole (in  58 ) 
         64  Hole (in  60 ) 
         66  Bearing shaft (between  62  and  64  for  14 ) 
         68  Axial distance (between  44  and  18 ) 
         70  Difference (between  40  and  72 ) 
         72  Axial size (of  36 ) 
         74  Internal diameter (of  44 ) 
         76  Internal diameter (of  50 ) 
         78  Cylindrical inner surface (of  50 ) 
         80  Cylindrical surface (of  10  for  20 ) 
         82  Elongated holes (in  50 ) 
         84  Proximal longitudinal edge (of  14 ) 
         86  Distal longitudinal edge (of  14 ) 
         88  Attachment (on  86 ) 
         90  Shear pin (on  14 ) 
         92  Weak point (of  90 ) 
         94  Projection (on  20 ) 
         96  Shearing section (for  90 )