Design of high performance missile structures utilizing advanced composite material technologies

The U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM) has demonstrated the ability to develop and utilize advanced composite material technologies for the design and fabrication of hypervelocity kinetic energy missiles for the next generation of Army air defense and anti-tank applications. Future kinetic energy missiles must be small, fast, lethal, and maneuverable, which requires the delivery vehicles to operate in a severe loading environment. Innovative designs and manufacturing techniques have been developed to provide an avenue for enhancing propulsion system performance while significantly reducing the missile size and mass requirements. Propulsion units with high strength-to-density ratio filament wound composite motorcases are stronger, stiffer, and more readily producible than their metallic counterparts; however, these structures are susceptible to manufacturing variability and are more easily damaged during handling and storage. This paper discusses the AMCOM motorcase fabrication approach and its applications as well as development efforts in the area of embedded sensor technology for in-process monitoring, structural characterization, damage detection, and service life monitoring of filament wound composite motorcases. The advanced composite material applications have enabled major improvements in system applications for hypervelocity missile concepts and integration to multiple lightweight launch platforms.