The present invention relates to a military tank/turret weapon system. At the present time a typical military tank combat crew consists of a tank commander, a driver, a gunner and an ammunition loader.
The tank commander is the officer in command of the fighting vehicle and responsible for coordinating the functions and activities of the other crew members to successfully complete the vehicle's assigned mission. The driver is responsible for the operation of the vehicle's engine systems and generally driving or otherwise maneuvering the vehicle. The gunner is responsible for operation of the vehicle's weapon systems, tracking and targeting of enemy vehicles and firing the on board weapon system thereby destroying enemy vehicles. The ammunition loader is responsible for physically selecting the particular type of ammunition ordered by the tank commander to be fired and manually loading the chosen ammunition into the weapon. Upon firing of the round, the round's cartridge case (stub case) is ejected by the weapon's breech mechanism with a force sufficient to propel the stub case toward the rear of the tank turret where it is generally received within a holding container. However, many times the stub case does not land within the holding container and the loader must manually capture the case and deposit it within the holding container. Further as the holding container fills with ejected casings, the loader must dispose of the spent casings by manually tossing the ejected stub cases outside the tank turret.
Future military tank cannon vehicle systems are being designed with a combat crew of three, the commander, driver, and gunner. The ammunition loader being replaced by an automated and mechanical loading device having a high rate of fire otherwise not achievable by a human loader. The stub case ejected from the weapon's breech must now be disposed of mechanically.