Aircraft protecting unit from mechanical impact of hitting elements

Аuthors

Trofimchuk M. V.^*, Krovjakov V. B.^**, Berezovsky D. V.^***, Andreev M. V.^****

Air force academy named after professor N.E. Zhukovskii and Y.A. Gagarin, Voronezh, Russia

*e-mail: trofim109@mail.ru
**e-mail: vlkrov@ramblerl.ru
***e-mail: berezovsk-mig@mail.ru
****e-mail: andree_maksim@rambler.ru

Abstract

Among the aircraft indices such as tactical, flight-performance, operational, economic, etc., the most important for a military aircraft is its combat survivability as an aircraft’s capability to continue the flight and task performing in conditions of hitting its separate units, systems and airframe by enemy’s means of destruction took place.

The experience of military conflicts reveals that the combat survivability of an aircraft is primarily determined by the protection of vital aggregates, which constitute less than 20% of the total aggregate of airframe and engine systems. Thus, to minimize the weight and size costs on ensuring the combat survivability of an aircraft, it becomes sufficient to ensure locally or strengthen protection with modern effective means only of its vital aggregates.

The disadvantages of existing methods and means of local protection of vital aircraft units are as follows:

– aerodynamic characteristics deterioration when placing the armored elements outside the fuselage;

– the aircraft useable volumeы reduction when placing the armored elements inside the fuselage;

– substantial increase in the aircraft weight characteristics.

As a result of the studies performed routinely by the specialists of Air Force Academy, a technical solution was developed of the device for aircraft protecting from the mechanical impact of the hitting elements. Its essence lies in the fact that along the perimeter of the aircraft skin section from its inner side, a flexible impediment is fixed in the zone of vital units’ location, and its area herewith exceeds the area of the protected skin area. Thus, the problem of fixing a flexible obstacle in the constructive state of “slack” (sagging) is solved, by which the effect of its resistance increasing to the impact of hitting elements is achieved. In this case the number of secondary fragments impacting the aggregates decreases by 95 to 97%. The energy of the damaging element itself decreases to a value sufficient only to form dents on vital aggregates that do not lead to their failure. The probability of accomplishing a combat mission by an aircraft increases by 15-18%.

The advantage of the developed technical solution is the possibility of its installation not only on newly designed, but also on the aircraft in operation without significant mass-size costs. The developed device can also be implemented to protect the other mobile and fixed technical facilities, including ground structures.

Keywords:

damage element, armor protection, protection device, combat survivability, aircraft

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