Patent ID: 7547865

Claim:
A gun-launched projectile for use in a high G environment, comprising: a gun-launched projectile having a central axis along the length of the projectile; and an optical assembly on the projectile having an optical axis that is approximately parallel to the central axis at launch, said assembly including, an optical element formed from a brittle material, said optical element comprising a forward facing surface, S 1 , an aft facing surface, S 2 , such that the diameter of S 2 is smaller than the diameter of S 1 , with an outer tapered surface connecting S 1 and S 2 ; an optical seat having a complementary tapered surface around a clear optical aperture formed therethrough and configured to engage the outer tapered surface of said optical element; and a flexible material between the mating surfaces of the optical element and the optical seat that supports the optical element in an initial unstressed position, said optical assembly configured to react to the inertial load upon launch to deform the flexible material and drive the optical element into the seat thereby producing both a bending moment that places S 2 under tensile stress and a force normal to the outer tapered surface that places S 2 under compressive stress that at least partially offsets the tensile stress and to react to the removal of the inertial load to return the optical element to the initial unstressed position.