Design and Manufacturing Process Automation for Next-Generation Composite Missile Canisters

Missile system combinations such as MK-21 / SM-3 have reached the total weight limit of ship-based launchers. Reduced canister weight would provide margin needed for increased encanistered missile performance without exceeding total system weight limits. KaZaK will work with Raytheon Missile Systems to design and demonstrate a replacement for MK-21, used with multiple sea-based missiles. Replacement of steel structure with more modern composites would save considerable weight. However, composite canisters made by more conventional manufacturing methods such as filament winding, braiding, VARTM, fiber placement or RTM would unacceptably increase cost. KaZaK propose to address both weight and cost while optimizing a form, fit and function composite MK-21 for pultrusion manufacturing. Pultrusion is a highly automated method for making constant cross section hardware at half or less of the cost of other composite manufacturing methods. In Phase I KaZaK will design pultruded composite corners, then test to verify they survive pressure loads resulting from missile launch. Our team will address multiple other design concerns including restrained fire, moisture permeability, and straightness associated with material transition from steel to composite. Phase I will conclude with confirming test results along with cost and performance predictions for a fully integrated composite MK-21 production unit.