EP0411993A1 - Disappearing mount for a light anti-aircraft gun - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a light weight turret for use on an armored vehicle that is easily movable between stowed and deployed positions. In the stowed position, the turret is folded downwardly adjacent to the top of the armored vehicle. In the deployed position, the turret extends above the top of the vehicle to provide the necessary clearances for use of the weapon at elevational angles between -15 DEG and +45 DEG . The turret consists of a pair of mounting members, each having a generally "U" shape with their bases pivotally attached to a support plate which, in turn, is pivotally attached to the top of the vehicle. Cross members connect the mounting members and pivotally mount a weapon support. The pivot axis of the weapon support extends generally horizontally and, when the turret is deployed, is located in a plane with the generally vertical azimuth axis about which the turret rotates. Actuators may be provided to assist in the movement of the members from their stowed to their deployed positions.

Description

The invention relates to a light anti-aircraft mount capable of being mounted on the roof of a light armored vehicle.

In this area, it is common to have a light weapon on the roof of the vehicle, a weapon that the servant uses through a hatch made in the roof.

Various types of mountings for small arms are known which all have a certain number of drawbacks.

Document DE-A-2 043 852 describes a rocket launcher whose deformable parallelogram structure is completely cantilevered at the front of the turntable of the vehicle.

This structure does not allow the mass of the lookout to be balanced during deployment and also does not ensure site mobility of the weapon from a negative site position to a strongly positive site position.

Most of the known carriages are troublesome by their bulk above the vehicle. Indeed, as it is necessary to have an inclination in site of the weapon varying in a large range, usually from -15 ° to + 45 °, the structure of the mountings must be high enough to take into account the clearances necessary for the movements in site of the weapon.

This bulk is sometimes inconvenient for the mobility of the vehicle, and in most cases, it is forbidden to transport the vehicle by plane, constituting in this a very penalizing constraint on the operational level.

One of the aims of the present invention is therefore to produce a light mount which has a tilt in elevation of the weapon from -15 ° to + 45 ° while allowing the air transportability of the vehicle carrying the mount. To do this, the invention proposes to make a foldable mount on the roof of the vehicle and having a reduced overall mass whose center of gravity is the lowest possible, not far from the center of gravity of the naked vehicle. Another object of the invention is to produce a mount, the deployment of which by the servant of the weapon is carried out quickly and almost automatically without requiring for the servant an excessive effort during the folding.

Another object of the invention is to provide a mounting allowing execution for the servant without excessive fatigue of the phases of rallying towards the target, and of pursuit, with reduced reaction times over 360 ° of deposit.

To achieve all of these goals by achieving the best compromise of all the aforementioned constraints, the invention proposes to produce a light deployable anti-aircraft mount mobile in 360 ° bearing and on site from -15 ° to + 45 ° and more depending on the weapon, arranged on the roof of a vehicle and capable of assuming a folded position on the roof of said vehicle and a deployed position for firing, such that said mount comprises a support plate for the weapon and its aiming system and such that said plate is carried by an articulated chair formed by a deformable double quadrilateral, the chair being fixed on a turntable on the roof of the vehicle by means of a circular

The articulated chair is itself further constituted by two transverse lyres, one front and the other rear, each formed of a U-shaped tube, the base of which comprises two yokes allowing their tilting forward in bearings integral with the turntable, and by two horizontal cross members of longitudinal axis, symmetrical with respect to the axis of the circular and surrounding the member of the weapon, said cross members being articulated on the upper ends, respectively left and right of the lyres front and rear.

According to a feature of the invention, the carriage comprises means for assisting the deployment of the articulated chair, said means being able to balance the mass of the plate equipped with its weapon when passing from the folded position to the deployed position .

• - la figure 1 est une vue en élévation de l'affût selon l'invention en position déployée ;
• - la figure 2 est une vue similaire de l'affût en position repliée ;
• - la figure 3 est une vue de dessus de l'affût sans sa platine support de l'arme ;
• - la figure 4 est une vue de l'avant de l'affût en position déployée ;
• - la figure 5 est une vue en élévation d'une variante de l'affût selon l'invention, dans une variante de réalisation.

Other characteristics of the invention will be specified and their embodiments explained in the following description, accompanied by the accompanying drawing plates, among which:

• - Figure 1 is an elevational view of the carriage according to the invention in the deployed position;
• - Figure 2 is a similar view of the carriage in the folded position;
• - Figure 3 is a top view of the carriage without its support plate of the weapon;
• - Figure 4 is a front view of the carriage in the deployed position;
• - Figure 5 is an elevational view of a variant of the mount according to the invention, in an alternative embodiment.

As shown in Figures 1 to 4, the deployable mount according to the invention is arranged on the roof 1 of a vehicle (itself not shown). The carriage has at its base a circular plate 2 rotating around a bearing axis ZZ on an extension 3 by means of a horizontal bearing 4. The extension comprises:
- a toothed circular 5 on which a pinion 7 meshes with a deposit encoder 6;
- A brush holder 60 of the rotary joint, the tracks 61 of which are fixed under the inner ring of the bearing.

The plate 2 comprises a rectangular armored hatch 8 opening by tilting backwards to serve as passage to the lookout attendant from inside the vehicle. The plate 2 comprises four boxes serving as bearings for a deployable chair, itself made up of two lyres, one front 9 and the other rear 10. Among the aforementioned four cases, two front boxes 11 serving as a bearing for the lyre front while two rear boxes 12 serve as bearings for the rear lyre. The front left 11 and rear 12 boxes are symmetrical with the right front and rear boxes with respect to a diametrical axis of the turntable.

Each front 9 and rear 10 lyre consists of a U-shaped bent tube, the base (respectively 9a, 10a) is provided with yokes (respectively 9b, 10b) equipped with articulation axes around which the lyres 9 rotate. and 10.

On the upper end of the vertical parts of the front and rear lyres, respectively left 9c 10c and right 9d, 10d are mounted, articulated on ball joints of the horizontal crosspieces (respectively left 13a and right 13b).

The assembly formed by the lyres 9 and 10 and the crosspieces 13a and 13b constitutes the articulated chair whose deployment is ensured by the form in two deformable parallelograms constituted by the plate 2, the left uprights 9c, 10c of the lyres and the crosspiece 13a (respectively the uprights 9d, 10d and the cross 13b).

On the chair thus formed is mounted the plate 14, support of the weapon (s) 15. The plate 14 is rotatably mounted in elevation on a site axis YY materialized by bearings 16 of the crosspieces 13a, 13b, said site axis being arranged in the vertical plane containing the axis of deposit ZZ.

The plate 14 supports two weapons 15 placed laterally on either side of the servant. It also supports a sighting device 17 in front of the servant.

The plate thus equipped has its center of gravity located along an axis Z1 Z1 placed in front of the bearing axis and this fact increases the unbalance of the assembly to be deployed by the servant to move the carriage from its folded position to the deployed position. Provision is therefore made for assistance in deploying the articulated chair, capable of balancing the mass of the plate equipped with its (its) weapon (s), when passing from the folded position to the deployed position.

These means consist of two pairs of mechanical cylinders respectively front, 18 and rear 19, these cylinders being articulated in the housings 11, 12 of the turntable and having their rod articulated respectively on the yokes 9b of the front lyre and 10b of the lyre back. In the case where the weapons carried are missiles, in order to harmonize the balancing curves of the lookout to the situation during deployment, taking into account the fact that the lookout can support either two missiles, or only one, if the first has been fired, or none if both have been launched, the front boxes 11 may include a mechanical system for disengaging the front jacks 18.

Also due to the imbalance caused by the position projection of the center of gravity of the equipped plate with respect to the elevation axis and to aid in the orientation in elevation of the plate by the servant, the cross members 13a, 13b of the chair each support a longitudinal cylinder 20 whose body is articulated at the rear of the cross member and the rod of which actuates a cable 21 wound on a pulley integral in rotation in elevation with the plate and concentric with the pin 16 of said plate. Thus aided by the traction exerted by the jacks 20, the servant of the weapon has a lower effort to provide to position his weapon in site.

On the other hand, this device improves the dynamic behavior when driving.

Various locking systems are advantageously provided on the carriage described above.

Thus, the turntable supports in its median axis in the front position a lock 31 for locking the articulated chair in each of its two folded and deployed positions, said lock cooperating with two bolts formed in the base of the front lyre 9.

The plate 2 also carries a bolt 22 for blocking the carriage in deposit in order to ensure that the carriage is locked in an axial position, weapon facing forward, during taxiing.

The bolt of said latch 22 is cleared in the standby and firing position to allow rotation of the carriage over 360 °. In the road position, it is unlocked to automatically engage in a keeper secured to the riser when the carriage is first moved into position longitudinal facing the front of the vehicle.

On the other hand, the plate 14 supporting the weapon comprises on its lateral edges two bolts 23 for blocking the elevation of said plate, said latches being able to cooperate with two strikes 24 carried by the longitudinal crosspieces of the chair to immobilize the plate in horizontal position especially when rolling in the folded position of the mount on the vehicle roof.

It is also possible to add to complete the description of the equipment that the on-site clearance of the plate is limited:
- at 15 °, for mini site front stops 25 coming to bear against stops 26 carried by the arms 9c, 9d of the front lyre 9
- At + 45 ° by a stop 27 of maximum site carried by the plate 2 and against which comes to bear the rear part of the weapon.

Figure 5 shows a variant of the invention. In this figure, the elements identical to the previous figures have the same references while the modified elements have a reference number increased by 100. This variant differs from the previous one in that the rear lyre 110 has a height greater than that of the front lyre 109 so that, in the deployed position, the longitudinal crosspieces 13a, 13b are inclined towards the front by an angle equal to the minimum elevation angle of the plate, which allows a double advantage:
- the field of observation in the shooter's field is cleared much more widely than in the previous variant.
- the security of locking the plate on the mobile chair is improved.

Furthermore, in this variant, the second jacks 120, for compensating for the unbalance due to the eccentric position of the center of gravity of the plate equipped with its weapon relative to the axis of rotation in elevation, are arranged between the plate 14 and the crosspieces 13a 13b and below these in order to improve the size of the carriage. The jacks 120 have their bodies fixed on a yoke integral with the front part of each longitudinal cross member and their rod directly actuates a yoke 116 integral in site with the plate and carried by the pin 16 of the latter.
In the variant of Figure 5, the deposit locking can be automatic or manual. An adjustable stop fixed on the lyre 109, by folding the system to actuate a piston 123 which by its displacement, releases a bolt 124 in the keeper 125 of the extension 3. Unlocking is carried out manually after having deployed the system by actuating the lock 126 down.
The servant has the possibility of manually locking the rotating part by actuating the lock 126 upwards.

By these different characteristics, the carriage thus produced according to these two variants allows rapid and almost automatic implementation of the folded position to the deployed position, as well as the execution by the servant of the carriage, of the rallying phases. towards the target and pursuit without excessive fatigue, while retaining on the lookout compactness qualities allowing the preservation of the mobility and the air transportability of the support vehicle.

Furthermore, the mount according to the invention is adapted to support on its plate in place of missiles, either a machine gun or a laser type ground weapon, or a rocket launcher.

Claims (16)

1. Deployable light anti-aircraft mount mobile in 360 ° bearing and on site from -15 ° to + 45 ° and beyond, placed on the roof of a vehicle and able to assume a folded position on the roof of said vehicle and a deployed position for shooting, carriage with a plate (14) supporting the weapon (15) and its sighting system (17) said plate being carried by an articulated chair (9, 10, 13, or 109, 110 , 13) formed of a deformable double quadrilateral, the chair being fixed on a plate (2) rotating on the roof of the vehicle by means of a toothed circular (5) characterized in that the articulated chair is constituted by two transverse lyres , one front (9,109) and the other rear (10,110) each formed of a U-shaped tube whose base (9a, 10a; 109a, 110a) has two yokes (9b, 10b; 109b 110b ) allowing their tilting forward in bearings integral with the turntable, and by two crosspieces (13a, 13b) of longitudinal axis, symmetrical with respect to the axis of the circular and surrounding the member of the weapon, said crosspieces being articulated on the upper ends respectively of the left (9a, 10a; 109a, 110a) and right (9b, 10b; 109b, 110b) of the front (9, 109) and rear (10, 110) lyres. 2. Anti-aircraft carriage according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises means (18, 19) for assisting in the deployment of the articulated chair, said means being able to balance the mass of the plate (14) equipped of his weapon (15) when passing from the folded position to the deployed position. 3. Anti-aircraft carriage according to claim 2, characterized in that the deployment assistance means consist of two pairs of first mechanical jacks (18, 19), respectively front (18) and rear (19), said first jacks being articulated on the turntable (2) and having their rods articulated respectively on the yokes (9b, 10b; 109b, 110b) of the front and rear lyres. 4. Anti-aircraft mounting according to claim 3 comprising two weapons arranged on either side of the servant characterized in that it comprises a mechanical disengagement device of the front balancing jacks (18). 5. Anti-aircraft mounting according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the rear lyre (110) is higher than the front lyre (109) so that in the deployed position the longitudinal crosspieces are tilted forward by an angle equal to the minimum elevation angle. 6. Anti-aircraft mounting according to any one of claims 1 to 4 characterized in that the front lyres (9) and rear (10) are of the same height so that, in the deployed position, the longitudinal cross members are horizontal. 7. Anti-aircraft mounting according to one of claims 1 to 6 characterized in that the axis of rotation in site YY of the plate (14) support of the weapon relative to the horizontal crosspieces (13a, 13b) is disposed in a vertical plane containing the bearing axis ZZ of the lookout, when the lookout is deployed. 8. Anti-aircraft mounting according to one of claims 6 or 7, characterized in that it comprises two second cylinders (20) fixed on the horizontal crosspieces of the chair, said second cylinders actuating a cable (21) wound on a pulley integral in elevation of the plate and carried by the pins (16) of the axis of rotation in elevation of the plate, to compensate for the imbalance due to the eccentric position of the center of gravity of said plate equipped with its weapon relative to the axis of rotation in elevation. 9. Anti-aircraft mounting according to one of claims 5 or 7 characterized in that it comprises two second cylinders (120) whose body is fixed on a yoke integral with the front part of each longitudinal cross member and whose rod actuates a yoke (116) integral in elevation with the plate and carried by the pins (16) of the plate, to compensate for the imbalance due to the eccentric position of the center of gravity of said plate equipped with its weapon relative to the axis of site rotation. 10. Anti-aircraft mounting according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that it comprises a lock (31) for blocking the articulated chair in each of its two folded and deployed positions, said lock being carried by the plate and cooperating with two bolts formed in the base of the front lyre. 11. Anti-aircraft carriage according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that it comprises a lock (22/122) for blocking in position of the carriage, carried by the turntable, the bolt of said lock being erased in the standby and firing position to allow rotation of the carriage over 360 ° and being unlocked in the road position to automatically engage in a keeper integral with the riser during the first passage of the carriage in the longitudinal position, facing the front of the vehicle. 12. Anti-aircraft mounting according to any one of claims 1 to 11 characterized in that the support plate of the weapon comprises on its lateral edges two bolts (23) for blocking the elevation of said plate (14), said bolts (23) being able to cooperate with two strikes (24) carried by the longitudinal crosspieces (13a, 13b) of the chair to immobilize the plate in a horizontal position. 13. Anti-aircraft carriage according to any one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that the turntable comprises an armored flap (8) central to serve as protection for the servant of the weapon. 14. Lookout according to any one of claims 1 to 13 characterized in that the plate carries a machine gun. 15. A lookout according to any one of claims 1 to 13 characterized in that the plate carries a terrestrial weaponry of the laser type. 16. A lookout according to any one of claims 1 to 13 characterized in that the plate supports a rocket launcher.

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