A Pintle Nozzle With Thrust Vector Control

Tactical missiles can use pintle nozzles to control speed and wings to steer to targets, but this is inadequate for many targets. To hit a wider variety of targets, tactical missiles must be able to steer the rocket's exhaust gas. A common method of doing this is to use a separate TVC system. However, it is often heavy and requires additional power to operate. If the TVC system can be integrated into a pintle nozzle for lighter weight and lower power requirements, Army missile capability will be greatly increased above current levels. Wickman Spacecraft & Propulsion Company proposes an innovative pintle nozzle with integral TVC. It deflects the exhaust gases and provides an unsymmetric pressure distribution on the exit cone walls to provide missile steering. It does this through a unique pintle geometry that can be adjusted to provide thrust vectoring from neutral to a range of thrust angles. During Phase I, WSPC will generate a preliminary layout design of a pintle nozzle with integral TVC based on advanced CFD and engineering analysis. This design will be tested in Phase II.