US Government As Represented by the Secretary of the Army

General Dynamics Land Systems, Inc.

Ernest N Petrick

Robert J Buccellato

Richard A Auyer

Needangalam S Sridharan

Armor plate (10) is disclosed as including at least one hardened steel plate (14,18) having triangular holes (16,20) arranged in a repeating pattern. Webs (40,42 and 44,46) are located between the triangular holes to provide lightweight armor without any ballistic gaps. The triangular holes (16,20) are shaped and positioned with respect to each other such that the webs (40,42 and 44,46) are generally straight. Each steel plate disclosed has its associated triangular hole (16,20) provided with the same size and shape as each other which are preferably in the shape of equilateral triangles.

Armor plate having triangular holes

A vehicle suspension especially for tracked vehicles, comprising an interly pressurized Bourdon tube operatively located between the sprung mass and each road wheel. A single liquid pump can be used to selectively pressurize different ones of the Bourdon tubes to different pressure values in accordance with expected loadings for particular ones of the road wheels. Depressurization of all Bourdon tubes can be used for vehicle height control, as for example to reduce the silhouette of a military vehicle and/or to reduce ground clearance.

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Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America

Ernest N Petrick