SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ENHANCING THE PAYLOAD CAPACITY, CARRIAGE EFFICIENCY, AND ADAPTIVE FLEXIBILITY OF EXTERNAL STORES MOUNTED ON AN AERIAL VEHICLE

摘要

A system and method for the conversion of fuel tanks, detachably mountable on the exterior of an aerial vehicle, into high volume, high capacity, diverse functionality and aerodynamically efficient airborne stores is disclosed. A conventional external fuel drop (16) tank is modified such that the exterior shape of the tank (16) is substantially retained while the interior of the tank is suitable restructured to allow for the introduction of diverse airborne stores, associated airborne store mounting means, control and monitoring means and support means therein, which replace the fuel store. The airborne store is suitably interfaced to the stores control and management system of the aerial vehicle. The airborne store is integrated into a new external stores configuration The enhanced airborne store will have aerodynamic characteristics substantially similar to the original external fuel tank while its payload capacity is substantially improved.