home > solutions > high performance conformal domes

In an effort to improve the US national security, PVI is addressing the efficiency and performance of heat-seeking missiles by improving the shape and dimension of the missiles' domes. These improvements will make the missiles faster, increase their range, and enable them to carry more explosives.

The performance (velocity, range, payload) of current heat-seeking missiles is limited by the shape of the forward-looking 'window' at the front of the device. Rather than using shapes that are optimized for aero-dynamic performance, current domes are spherical for ease and cost of manufacture. A major impediment to the efficient manufacture of 'conformal' domes is the metrology to control the manufacturing process. PVI is designing a specialized measuring machine that will be used to enable improvements in performance in super-sonic heat-seeking missiles, eg, from Mach 2.0 to Mach 2.5.