Recent improvements in efficiency and performance of payloads in Air Expendable Countermeasure Decoys have not necessarily benefited performance gain for the AN/ALE-47 Countermeasure Dispensing System. The Air Force has the RR-180 Dual Chaff payload, which has proven effective. The Navy RR-129, however, has not been updated to dual-chaff configuration. Quad-M's approach is to divide the Navys chaff casing into two compartments and independently deploy each chaff payload. The technology developing the RR-180 was leveraged to develop the Air Expendable Countermeasure Decoy Device. Quad-M bread-boarded the proposed electronic circuit and demonstrated its validity in the proposal. The quad impulse cartridge is capable of utilizing a single firing circuit and providing two (2) separate payload initiations sequentially at two (2) different firing times. No hardware or software changes in the AN/ALE-47 CMDS are required. The Air Expendable Countermeasure Decoy Device maintains the same form factor as the RR-129 cartridge. No cost impact will occur other than a minimum cost impact on the expendable countermeasure due to the fact that a second squib is used. This technology will increase the number of expendable countermeasures dispense events without modifying the existing airframe structure and will increase the aircraft survivability from RF missile threats.
Benefit: There are a variety of other potential uses of this circuit for aerospace, automotive and transportation applications. For example, spacecraft separation systems typically require redundant actuation of two mechanisms, each mechanism capable of causing separation. It is advantageous to use serial commanding to reduce the current consumption but still retain the redundant actuation capability. This commanding method also halves the amount of wiring harness needed to provide redundant actuation capability. Thus, using an existing wiring harness can double the amount of actuated devices or halve the mass of the wiring harness, which, especially in spacecraft and launch vehicle applications, is a critical design factor due to cost of mass to orbit. This is also critical in automotive applications where reduction of cost and mass of the wiring harness is critical. Ships and trains could also take advantage of using existing wiring systems to double the actuation capability.
Keywords: RR-129, RR-129, Squib 1083, impulse cartridge, RR-180, Zener diode, AN/AALE-47 CMSD, BBU-48, HERO
