Armoured vehicle undershield

Abstract

An armoured vehicle undershield for a land-based armoured vehicle, comprising: an underside guard; one or more casings coupled to the underside guard; and a fibre reinforced composite material encased by the one or more casings.

I/We claim: 
     
         1 . An armoured vehicle undershield for a land-based armoured vehicle, comprising:
 an underside guard;   a plurality of casings spaced from each other across the underside guard and coupled to the underside guard; and   fibre reinforced composite material at least partially encased by the plurality of casings, wherein the fibre reinforced composite material comprises a matrix and at least one fibrous material.   
     
     
         2 . The armoured vehicle undershield of  claim 1 , wherein the casings are or comprise one or more closed conduits. 
     
     
         3 . The armoured vehicle undershield of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of casings include an elongate casing, a length of the elongate casing being arranged to extend along a length of the underside guard and the armoured vehicle undershield further comprises a further elongate casing, a length of the further elongate casing being arranged to extend along a width of the underside guard. 
     
     
         4 . The armoured vehicle undershield of  claim 3 , wherein the length of the further elongate casing is substantially perpendicular to the length of the elongate casing. 
     
     
         5 . The armoured vehicle undershield of  claim 1 , further comprising a second plurality of casings situated on the plurality of casings. 
     
     
         6 . The armoured vehicle undershield of  claim 5 , wherein the plurality of casings and the second plurality of casings are elongate in shape, and lengths of the plurality of casings are arranged to extend along a length of the underside guard and lengths of the second plurality of casings are arranged to extend along a width of the underside guard. 
     
     
         7 . The armoured vehicle undershield of  claim 6 , wherein lengths of the second plurality of casings are substantially perpendicular to the lengths of the plurality of casings. 
     
     
         8 . The armoured vehicle undershield of  claim 5 , further comprising a third plurality of casings situated on the second plurality of casings. 
     
     
         9 . The armoured vehicle undershield of  claim 1 , wherein the fibre reinforced composite material has an elastic modulus of at least 70 GPa and/or a tensile strength of at least 2.5 GPa. 
     
     
         10 . (canceled) 
     
     
         11 . The armoured vehicle undershield of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one fibrous material comprises at least one of: carbon fibre, glass fibre, boron fibre, aramid fibre or ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene. 
     
     
         12 . The armoured vehicle undershield of  claim 11 , wherein the matrix comprises a thermosetting resin or a thermoplastic material. 
     
     
         13 . The armoured vehicle undershield of  claim 1 , wherein the underside guard is formed from one or more metals. 
     
     
         14 . The armoured vehicle undershield of  claim 1 , wherein each of the casings is formed from one or more metals. 
     
     
         15 . The armoured vehicle undershield of  claim 14 , wherein the underside guard and the one or more metals are formed from steel. 
     
     
         16 . The armoured vehicle of  claim 1 , wherein each of the one or more casings with fibre reinforced composite material therein forms a sandwich structure. 
     
     
         17 . (canceled) 
     
     
         18 . An armoured vehicle undershield for a land-based armoured vehicle, comprising:
 an underside guard having a length, a width and a depth;   a first plurality of elongate casings, having fibre reinforced composite material therein, coupled to the underside guard and arranged lengthwise relative to the underside guard; and   a second plurality of elongate casings, having fibre reinforced composite material therein, coupled to the underside guard and arranged widthwise relative to the underside guard.   
     
     
         19 . The armoured vehicle undershield of  claim 18 , wherein lengths of the second plurality of casings are perpendicular to lengths of the first plurality of casings. 
     
     
         20 . The armoured vehicle undershield of  claim 19 , wherein lengths of the first plurality of casings are arranged diagonally relative to the length of the underside guard, and/or wherein the lengths of the second plurality of casings are arranged diagonally relative to the width of the underside guard. 
     
     
         21 . The armoured vehicle undershield of  claim 18 , wherein the second plurality of elongate casings is coupled to the underside guard at least partially via a connection to the first plurality of elongate casings. 
     
     
         22 . (canceled) 
     
     
         23 . An armoured vehicle undershield for a land-based armoured vehicle, comprising:
 an underside guard;   a plurality of casings spaced from each other across the underside guard and directly connected to the underside guard by welding; and   fibre reinforced composite material at least partially encased by the plurality of casings.   
     
     
         24 . (canceled)