Hughes Missile Systems Company

James L Neumann

Andrew B Facciano

Rodney H Krebs

Oscar Kenneth Ohanian

Ronald N Hopkins

An integral missile antenna-fuselage assembly (50) is provided for integration into an armament missile (12) which carries primary missile loads, houses internal electronic assemblies, provides mounting surface zones for external sensor antennas (71) , and protects sensitive antenna components from supersonic aerodynamic heating. Each end of the fuselage assembly (50) is formed from a fastener ring (52,54) having a circumferential recess (84,86) which receives a filament wound main structure (60) to form the missile fuselage tube. Preferably, a titanium liner (58) is first joined to each fastener ring with a step-lap joint (94,96) along which it is adhesively bonded. The liner (58) and adjacent fastener ring portions (52,57) provide a mandrel on which a graphite/Bismaleimide (BMI) resin pre-preg is filament wound and co-cured to form the integral fuselage (60). A plurality of Graphite/BMI doublers (62,63,64,65) are axisymmetrically positioned on the fuselage external surface to form four antenna cavities (66,67,68,69) which receive antennas (71) therein. Subsequently, antenna spacers (72,73,74,75) encase the antennas (71) about which a radome overwrap (70) is filament wound with a Quartz/BMI pre-preg. The entire structure (70) is then integrally cured to the internal fuselage (60) and antenna spacers (72,73,74,75) afterwhich it is surface treated (76) and overcoated (78).

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Tucson, AZ, United States of America

James L Neumann