Several military helicopters feature forward firing weapons, which have simple and reliable mounts, but require the pilot to precisely point the aircraft at an intended target. Depending on the combat environment, this can place a significant burden on the pilots and often results in lowered aiming accuracy and increased potential for collateral damage. There are existing technologies that have been proven to operate well for precision weapon pointing, but these gimbal systems are prohibitively heavy for forward firing weapon applications. As such, Techno-Sciences, Inc., in collaboration with the University of Maryland, proposes to develop a technology with small-deflection precision pointing and adaptive recoil capabilities to increase the precision of forward firing weapons. The pointing accuracy will be achieved with pneumatic artificial muscle actuators and the adaptive recoil will be achieved with magnetorheological fluid dampers. Building upon our extensive experience and related patent portfolio, we will perform analyses and detailed design work in Phase I of the project. Phase II will be focused on further refinements and integration into functional hardware capable of demonstrations.
Keywords: Stabilized, Helicopter, Mount, Motion Base, Accuracy, Gun, Pneumatic Artificial Muscle, Magnetorheological Damper
