Mechanical integration analysis of 70-mm rocket launchers in remotely piloted aircraft

Abstract

The effort of armed forces worldwide to acquire high-tech equipment is becoming increasingly necessary with the ongoing technological advancement. Therefore, this work aims to technically evaluate the possibilities of the mechanical integration of a Skyfire rocket launcher from Avibras into a Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS), considering all the challenges of the process. First, an analysis of available aircraft in Brazil and around the world was conducted to select a system that had sufficient infrastructure for the launcher to be integrated. Next, three-dimensional (3D) modeling of the aircraft components and the weapon system was performed, so that it was possible to use this geometry in the simulations. In addition, several computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were carried out in Ansys software to calculate the lift and drag coefficient parameters of the airflow over the aircraft wing, and graphs of the pressure and velocity contours on the wing were obtained. The simulations are crucial for comparing the lift and drag forces on the aircraft wing before and after the integration of the weapon system.