DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING PLAN FOR A COMPOSITE LOW ALTITUDE DISPENSER (LAD)

COMPOSITE MATERIALS SUCH AS GRAPHIT/EPOXY AND KEVLAR/EPOXY OFFER THE POTENTIAL TO REDUCE WEIGHT, RADAR CROSS SECTION (RCS), AND MANUFACTURED COSTS IN FLIGHT VEHCILE STRUCTURES. THIS PROGRAM IS DESIGNED TO APPLY THESE BENEFITS TO AFAL'S LOW ALTITUDE DISPENSER (LAD). AT THE SAME TIME THE CURRENT 11" PAYLOAD BAY WOULD BE INCREASED TO 12" TO INCREASE PAYLOAD VOLUME AND EFFICIENT MUNITIONS PACKING. AFTER A REVIEW OF PRIOR LAD WORK ON THE ALUMINUM VEHICLES, THREE COMPOSITE AIRFRAME CONCEPTS ARE DERIVED. ONE OF THESE CONCEPTS IS SELECTED ON THE BASIS OF WEIGHT, RCS, COST AND PRODUCEABILITY CONSIDERATIONS. A PRELIMINARY STRUCTURAL DESIGN AND WEIGHT ESTIMATE ARE THEN CONDUCTED. MANUFACTURING FEATURES ARE ALSO ADDRESSED IN SUFFICIENT DETAIL TO DETERMINE DEVELOPMENT AND UNIT COSTS. A FINAL REPORT IS PROVIDED WHICH SUMMARIZES THIS EFFORT AND PROVIDES GUIDELINES FOR FURTHER PHASE II DEVELOPMENT.