Polymeric Protection of Navy Fighter Jet Towlines

Abstract

Towed decoys are used to protect military fighter and transport aircraft against radar-guided air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles. A towed decoy provides an aircraft-like target that draws an oncoming missile away from the aircraft that is being protected. The towline in general consists of a set of conducting and communication members, which is ensheathed by a structurally protective envelope (strength member) made of a high-performance organic fiber. A towline can "burn through" when exposed to a fighter jet's afterburner plume, resulting in the loss of the decoy. This "burn through" is a result of the initial thermo-oxidative degradation of the protective sheath and the subsequent breakdown of the conducting and communication members. The Naval Research Laboratory is part of an undertaking of the U.S. Navy Integrated Defensive Electronic Countermeasures (IDECM) and Radio Frequency Countermeasures (RFC) programs, who share a central objective, which is the development of advanced towline systems that can function at high temperatures and for longer durations. Siloxane polymers that contain carborane clusters, developed simultaneously by Olin Laboratories and Union Carbide in the 1960s, have exceptional thermal stability in air. Research at NRL has furthered the chemistry of these thermo-oxidatively stable polymers by incorporating crosslinkable diacetylene units. The improved polymers, collectively known as poly(carborane-siloxane-acetylene)s or PCSAs, produce extended network structures through the thermally initiated crosslinking reactions of the diacetylene groups. These highly processable PCSAs are ideally suited to protect high-performance organic fiber strength members (e.g., Kevlar, Zylon, carbon fibers) used in Navy fighter jet towlines against thermo-oxidative degradation.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2007
Accession Number
ADA516758

Entities

People

  • M. K. Kolel-veetil
  • T. M. Keller

Organizations

  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Electronic Warfare
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • Alkynes
  • Carbon Fibers
  • Chemistry
  • Electronic Warfare
  • Fibers
  • High Temperature
  • Information Operations
  • Materials
  • Materials Science
  • Military Personnel
  • Military Research
  • Navy
  • Radio Frequency
  • Sonar Decoys
  • Thermal Stability
  • Transport Aircraft

Readers

  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Missile Defense Systems.
  • Polymer Science and Technology

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics