Impact explosion prevention of disabled rockets

Abstract

A vehicle protection system for vehicle windows against RPGs, comprising an RPG countermeasure mechanism (an active disruption mechanism that propels an object at an incoming RPG or a static structure) that results in a disabled RPG that cannot explode as a liner shaped charge warhead but can still explode, and a set of transparent panels attached to the vehicle, the panels large enough to cover the windows of the vehicle, the panels of the set of transparent panels inclined relative to an imaginary vertical plane nonnal to a surface that the vehicle rests on by an angle that is between 20, and 40 degrees, the panels made of rigid material, such as PMMA. for absorbing an impact from the disabled RPG so that it never reaches the threshold deceleration needed to explode.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A protection system for vehicle windows against RPGs, comprising:
 an RPG countermeasure mechanism against an RPG that results in a disabled RPG, the RPG countermeasure mechanism selected from (i) an active disruption mechanism that propels an object at an incoming RPG and (ii) a static structure attached to a vehicle to be protected; and   a set of transparent panels attached to the vehicle, the panels large enough to cover the windows of the vehicle, the panels of the set of transparent panels inclined relative to an imaginary vertical plane normal to a surface that the vehicle rests on by an angle that is between 20 and 40 degrees, the panels made of a material for absorbing an impact from the disabled RPG with no residual explosion.   
     
     
         2 . The protection system of  claim 1 , wherein the material is a rigid then thermoplastic. 
     
     
         3 . The protection system of  claim 1 , wherein the material is poly(methyl methacrylate). 
     
     
         4 . The protection system of  claim 1 , further comprising a layer of shock absorbing foam covering a non-windowed portion of the vehicle. 
     
     
         5 . The protection system of  claim 1 , wherein the angle is such that the transparent panels extend out to a surface of a layer of shock absorbing foam that covers a non-windowed portion of the vehicle. 
     
     
         6 . The protection system of  claim 1 , further comprising each of the transparent panels inclined to a vertical position by an angle that is between 25 and 35 degrees. 
     
     
         7 . The protection system of  claim 1 , further comprising a first panel and a second panel of the set of transparent panels, an upper end of the first panel intersecting the vertical plane, a lower end of the second panel intersecting the vertical plane. 
     
     
         8 . The protection system of  claim 7 , further comprising the first and second panels joined at a lower end of the first panel and at an upper end of the second panel. 
     
     
         9 . The protection system of  claim 1 , wherein the active disruption mechanism comprises:
 an RPG disruption mechanism in close proximity to the vehicle for launching a disrupter that disables a detonator mechanism of the RPG;   a casing having an anvil supporting a propelling mechanism for propelling a disrupting element toward an approaching RPG; and   an activation system for activating the propelling mechanism.   
     
     
         10 . The RPG neutralization mechanism of  claim 1 , further comprising a layer of foam surrounding walls of the vehicle other than windows of the vehicle. 
     
     
         11 . The RPG neutralization mechanism of  claim 10 , wherein the foam is selected from a metal and a polymer. 
     
     
         12 . The RPG neutralization mechanism of  claim 11 , wherein the foam is made from aluminum. 
     
     
         13 . An RPG neutralization mechanism for a vehicle, the RPG including explosives, the RPG neutralization mechanism comprising:
 an RPG disruption mechanism in close proximity to the vehicle for disabling a detonator mechanism of the RPG without removing the explosives and thereby resulting in a disabled RPG;   a set of transparent panels covering windows of the vehicle, each transparent panel of the set configured at an incline angle of approximately 20 to 40 degrees from an imaginary vertical plane normal to a surface on which the vehicle rests and rigid so as to reduce an impulse of impact of the RPG colliding with the vehicle to below a threshold impulse of impact, the threshold impulse defined to trigger explosion of the explosives in the disabled RPG.   
     
     
         14 . The RPG neutralization mechanism of  claim 13 , wherein the transparent panels are configured to reduce the impulse of impact of the RPG to no more than 7 G. 
     
     
         15 . The RPG neutralization mechanism of  claim 13 , wherein the transparent panels are made of a rigid thermoplastic. 
     
     
         16 . The RPG neutralization mechanism of  claim 13 , wherein the transparent panels are made from poly(methyl methacrylate). 
     
     
         17 . The RPG neutralization mechanism of  claim 13 , wherein the incline angle is approximately 25 degrees. 
     
     
         18 . A vehicle protection kit against RPGs, comprising:
 an RPG disruption mechanism attached to the vehicle for disabling an RPG without removing explosives from a detonator of the RPG and allowing a disabled RPG to impact the vehicle;   a layer of foam covering non-windowed sides of the vehicle;   transparent panels covering windowed sides of the vehicle, the panels inclined off a vertical plane normal to the surface on which the vehicle rests by an angle such that a disabled RPG colliding with the transparent panels after bouncing off the solid foam will have less impulse of impact than a threshold impulse of impact needed to trigger explosion of the explosives.   
     
     
         19 . The vehicle protection kit of  claim 18 , wherein the transparent panels are configured to reduce the impulse of impact of the RPG to no more than 7 G. 
     
     
         20 . The vehicle protection kit of  claim 18 , wherein the angle is 20 to 25 degrees. 
     
     
         21 . A method of protecting a vehicle from an RPG without adversely affecting an agility of the vehicle, comprising:
 disabling the RPG by active disruption or static disruption, so that a disabled RPG still containing explosives impacts the vehicle; and   absorbing an impact from the disabled RPG using transparent lightweight panels covering windows of the vehicle so as to reduce an impulse of impact from the disabled RPG to below a threshold level of deceleration needed for explosion, the transparent panels inclined off a vertical plane by between 20 and 40 degrees to prevent the disabled RPG from exploding.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising
 using solid foam around non-windowed sections of the vehicle to reduce the impulse of impact from the disabled RPG against non-windowed sections of the vehicle.   
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising absorbing the impact from the disabled RPG using the transparent lightweight panels so as to reduce an impulse of impact from the disabled RPG to no more than 7 G. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the transparent panels inclined off a vertical plane by between 25 and 35 degrees.