Armoured Vehicle Family — One Smoke Launcher Architecture, 4 to 16 Launchers

A leading Turkish armoured vehicle manufacturer wanted a common smoke grenade launcher system across every variant of its wheeled armoured vehicle family. The family runs from a light turretless variant to a fully protected variant with a weapon turret, and each needs a different smoke screen: a directional screen over the front sector is enough for the light variants, while the turreted variants call for protection all the way around the vehicle.

Until then, each configuration used its own imported system. As it renewed the family's electronic architecture, the manufacturer required the smoke launcher, like every other subsystem, to join the vehicle CAN data bus and to suit the conditions of the 28 VDC military vehicle power network. It drew up a technical requirements document for a domestic system with selectable launcher count and coverage, running on a single control architecture, and handed it to TEDEG Defence.

As the vehicle family grew, the existing set-up added work on the production line and in the field. While the requirements document was being prepared, the manufacturer's engineering, quality and logistics teams pointed to these issues:

• A separate system per variant: each vehicle configuration needed its own launcher layout, its own control unit and its own cable harness. Several part families sat in stores, and maintenance crews followed a different procedure for each system.
• Control cut off from the vehicle electronics: the imported control unit did not connect to the vehicle CAN bus. Smoke launcher status could not be seen from the mission systems, and the unit needed its own wiring inside the vehicle.
• EMI compatibility: firing circuits sharing a hull with turret electronics and communications equipment were expected to meet MIL-STD-461G, and the imported system left open questions when that had to be verified against the platform's new electronic architecture.
• Supply conditions: the current drawn at the moment of firing and transients on the vehicle supply meant the system had to be designed around a military vehicle power network.
• Supply-chain dependence: lead times for spares and new orders followed the foreign supplier's schedule, and production planning had to absorb that uncertainty.

The manufacturer was looking for one system that covered every variant and fitted the vehicle's own electronic architecture.

Working from the requirements document, TEDEG Defence configured the TDG-76-SGL 76 mm Smoke Grenade Launcher System for the vehicle family. The aim was not to design a separate system for each variant, but to scale the same launcher and the same control architecture to what each variant needs.

The smoke launcher subsystem is now a single product across every variant of the vehicle family. The only difference between variants is the number and position of the launchers.

• One launcher type and one control unit cover every configuration, from the turretless to the turreted variant.
• The smoke launcher works on the same J1939 data bus as the turret electronics and other mission systems, and its status can be monitored from the vehicle electronics.
• With the maintenance kit and ammunition test simulator, launcher cleaning and routine checks can be done in the field.
• With design and production in Türkiye, spares and new orders no longer depend on a foreign supplier's schedule.