Pneumatic launch on shop air for the Ø90 bore. Ground equipment that throws a moulded round with air alone: a charged bank, a normally closed breech and a Ø90 tube, and a person arms every shot.
A compressor, a certified air bank, a fast normally closed valve and a steel tube, laid by a two-axis mount and armed by a person for every shot. Nothing in it burns and nothing on it transmits.
The launch energy is compressed air from an electric compressor. There is no propellant, no primer and no cartridge anywhere on the platform or in the round it launches.
An emergency stop, an area-clear key, a muzzle-cover switch and a relief-proven switch stand in series ahead of the arm relay, and fire is a local operator action. A partner cue is a permissive only.
Every breech valve is normally closed. Loss of control power, of the console bus, of the arm relay or of any interlock returns the platform to its safe state.
Every head crosses one mechanical nose interface, and the platform delivers the same 30 bar over the same stroke to each of them. No head carries power or signal from the launcher.
The four-tube reference design, figure by figure, with the basis of each beside it.
Reference designLaunch, per barrelBarrel and breechAir systemCompressor and powerSafety functionsMount, aiming and magazineInterfacesSustainment
| Parameter | Value | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Tubes | 4, on a common cradle | the reference design in the design definition |
| Bore | Ø90.00 mm | design value, the round's bore |
| Stroke | 3,000 mm | design value |
| Charge pressure | 30 bar, shop-air class | design value |
| Round | Goose CS-110 or Encapsulator CS-111, 1.600 kg | design value for the round mass; one round in one tube |
| Head interface | One mechanical nose interface for every head | design definition, head variants interface |
| Power or signal to the head | None | design definition, head variants interface |
| Parameter | Value | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Velocity at the muzzle | 189.2 m/s | design value, interior ballistics |
| Muzzle energy | 28.64 kJ | calculated: ½mv² |
| Peak base force | 18,191 N | calculated; lands at the start of the stroke, before the round moves |
| Mean base force | 9,546 N | calculated |
| Peak acceleration of the round | 1,159 g | calculated; governs the launcher structure |
| Bore area | 63.62 cm² | the Ø90 bore |
| Parameter | Value | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Barrel stock | Drawn-over-mandrel steel tube, without a weld seam | drawing general notes |
| Breech valve | Normally closed solenoid, energize to open, one per barrel | design definition; control-logic schematic |
| Valve opening time | <5 ms | calculated, so the peak load does not shift |
| Valve pressure rating | 30 bar | design definition, breech and fast valve |
| Barrels fired | One commanded at a time | the published safety page |
| Breech drive | Hard-wired into the interlock chain, never commanded over the console bus | design definition, CAN and interlock architecture |
| Parameter | Value | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Working pressure | 30 bar | design value |
| Accumulator bank | 191 L | design value, sized for eight shots with a 50 % reserve |
| Stored energy, bank charged | 0.89 MJ | calculated; the dominant hazard on the system |
| Pressure vessel | Certified to TC/CSA/ISO 11119 | mandatory in the design definition and on the drawings |
| Canadian Registration Number | Carried on the vessel and on its relief device | the published platform page |
| Relief valve set point | 33 bar, 110 % of working pressure | set point on the pneumatic diagram; relief valve to ISO 4126-1 |
| Relief capacity | Full compressor flow, proven by a switch in the arm chain | design definition, safety architecture |
| Isolation and venting | Manual isolation valve, vent and drain | the pneumatic diagram; the published safety page |
| Pressure reading | A transducer on the bank, a safety-critical input to the controller | design definition, electrical load analysis |
| Parameter | Value | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Compressor | Electric, 17 kW shaft power | calculated from the pneumatic work |
| Compressor free-air delivery | 31 L/s | calculated at 50 % mechanical efficiency |
| Site supply | 480 V three-phase, to the compressor | the supply the electrical design is drawn to |
| Control power | 24 VDC bus for every other load | design definition, power and charging |
| Power and control separation | The three-phase and 24 VDC buses kept physically apart | design definition, bus architecture |
| Parameter | Value | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Arm permissives | Four in series: a dual-channel emergency stop, an area-clear key, a muzzle-cover switch and a relief-proven switch | design definition, interlock chain |
| Fail direction | Every link fail-open; any fault returns the platform to safe | design definition; interlock state machine |
| Control states | SAFE, ARMED, FIRING and FAULT | interlock state machine |
| Fault recovery | Manual reset, with every permissive re-established | interlock state machine |
| Fire command | Local operator action only | design definition, interlock chain |
| Arm action | Mandatory for every shot; no automated or remote-only fire path | design definition, safety architecture |
| Partner cue | A permissive only; never overrides the local arm | design definition, interlock chain |
| Emergency stop | Dual-channel, with cross-fault detection at the arm relay | control-logic schematic |
| Energetic material | None, on any head, in any revision | schematic safety-function summary |
| Parameter | Value | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Azimuth | ±170° | design value, tied to the alignment software |
| Elevation | −3° to +75° | design value, tied to the alignment software |
| Peak slew acceleration | 60°/s² | design value |
| Axis drives | Servo drives with encoders on both axes | design definition, electrical load analysis |
| Boresight | An alignment module holding a stored boresight offset | design definition; the published safety page |
| Envelope check | A solution outside the mount's limits is refused before the drives move | the published platform and engagement pages |
| Magazine | Auto-index, motor and encoder, no pyrotechnics | design definition, auto-index magazine |
| Magazine capacity | 24 rounds | reference design: two four-tube salvos with 16 in reserve |
| Structure | A pedestal for a fixed site, or a vehicle cradle | design definition, structure and cradle |
| Parameter | Value | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Fire-control interface | A wired connector, capped, its conductors held in reserve until a partner interface is defined | design definition; the published platform page |
| Cue | Bearing, range and height, over the fire-control interface or entered by hand | the published engagement page |
| Operator console link | CAN 2.0B bus between the console and the launcher | design definition, CAN bus topology |
| The platform's own sensing | A pressure transducer on the bank and a boresight reference on the mount | design definition; the published platform page |
| Radio aboard | None; the slim upright rods on the receiver deck are not radio aerials | the published platform page |
| Parameter | Value | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Breech seal | Watched as a wear item on its own schedule | the published safety page |
| Pressure vessel life | Its own life and inspection interval; a vessel out of interval stops the launcher | the published safety page |
| Hydrostatic test intervals | Documented for the certified vessel | design definition, safety architecture |
A launch platform is the ground half of CDNS UAV Platforms. It stores the air, points the tube and lets the round go, and it is never counted among the UAVs it launches.
Goose CS-110 is a UAV. The machine that throws it is ground equipment: a frame, a bank of compressed air, a fast valve and a tube, standing on ground the customer chose and worked by a crew the customer trained. What it delivers is one thing, a fixed quantity of compressed air released fast behind a cup that fills the bore. Thirty bar acts across Ø90 mm and drives the round the length of the tube, and at the muzzle the platform's work is done.
The engineering sizes a four-tube reference design, and it treats the number of tubes as a choice rather than a requirement, traded against depth of fire and mass. The frames on this sheet show the same pneumatic chain in its array build.
There is no warhead, no fuze, no primer, no propellant and no initiator anywhere in this system. A partner cue is a permissive: it can never bypass the interlock chain or the arm action, and no automated or remote-only fire path exists.
Air is made, stored, held behind one valve per barrel and released into one bore. Nothing on the chain is a cartridge.
An electric compressor of 17 kW shaft power, on a 480 V three-phase supply, charges a 191 L accumulator bank to 30 bar. The bank is a certified pressure vessel. A relief valve set at 33 bar, 110 % of working pressure, stands above it, and a transducer reads it for the controller. A manual isolation valve, vent and drain take the stored air out of the machine.
Downstream, each barrel has its own normally closed solenoid breech valve, energized to open and rated at the bank's working pressure. Its port is sized so the valve is never the restriction, and it opens in under 5 ms so the peak load does not shift.
| Element | Reference design | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Compressor | Electric, 17 kW shaft power, 31 L/s free air | Calculated |
| Accumulator bank | 191 L at 30 bar, certified to TC/CSA/ISO 11119 | Design value |
| Stored energy | 0.89 MJ | Calculated |
| Relief valve | 33 bar set point | 110 % of working pressure |
| Breech valve | Normally closed, <5 ms, one per barrel | Calculated opening time |
| Tube | Ø90 mm bore, 3,000 mm stroke | Design value |
The peak base force lands at the very start of the stroke, before the round has moved. Pressure, bore and mass fix it; valve speed does not.
Because the peak occurs at the instant the valve opens, it is set by the charge pressure acting across the bore on the mass of the round. A slower valve costs muzzle velocity, not peak load. The breech is therefore built for its seal's life at 30 bar rather than for a soft opening, and the barrel group and its interfaces are sized against the peak.
The barrels are drawn-over-mandrel steel tube, without a weld seam, on a common cradle. Each takes 18,191 N at the peak and 9,546 N on average over the stroke.
| Per barrel | Value | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Peak base force | 18,191 N | Calculated, at the start of the stroke |
| Mean base force | 9,546 N | Calculated |
| Peak acceleration of the round | 1,159 g | Calculated |
| Velocity at the muzzle | 189.2 m/s | Design value |
| Muzzle energy | 28.64 kJ | Calculated |
The charged accumulator is the largest hazard on the system, larger than the round and larger than the compressor, and the design is arranged around it.
The bank holds its energy before anyone is near a tube, so the pressure system is treated as the dangerous part of the machine, and every procedure on it follows from that. The relief valve is sized for full compressor flow, so a control fault cannot drive the bank past its set point.
The arm relay is the single node that guards the fire path, and every link in front of it is fail-open.
Four permissives stand in series ahead of the arm relay. Any one of them open leaves the relay de-energized and the platform safe; to a series chain, a cut wire and a pressed stop are the same event. With all four made the relay energizes, and fire is a local operator action at the console. A human arm action is mandatory for every shot.
The control states are SAFE, ARMED, FIRING and FAULT. A permissive that opens returns the platform to SAFE, and a fault latches until a person resets it with every permissive re-established. The breech valves are hard-wired into the interlock chain rather than commanded over the console bus, so a bus fault cannot keep a valve from closing.
| Permissive | What it confirms |
|---|---|
| Emergency stop, dual channel | Two normally closed channels agree that no stop is pressed, with cross-fault detection at the arm relay |
| Area-clear key | A named person has walked the zone and turned the key |
| Muzzle-cover switch | The cover is off the muzzle |
| Relief-proven switch | The relief path is proven before the platform will arm |
With the fire-control interface open or absent, the arm relay is unaffected and a local arm is still required. No automated or remote-only fire path exists.
The traversing and elevating mount is the whole of the platform's aim, and its envelope is checked before the drives are asked for anything.
The mount carries the barrel group on a common cradle and drives it in two axes, each on a servo drive with an encoder, to a peak slew acceleration of 60°/s². An alignment module holds a stored boresight offset that ties the bore to the mount's aim. A cue of bearing, range and height becomes a laying solution, and a solution outside the mount's limits is refused rather than clipped: the sequence stops at the lay, and the crew re-sites the platform or passes the cue on.
Under the mount sits a pedestal for a fixed site or a cradle on a vehicle, chosen per deployment. The bore, the pressure and the stroke do not change with it.
Driven and encoded, and referenced to the stored boresight offset.
From a shallow lay to a steep arc, set by the solution for each cue.
A motor and an encoder feed the breech. The reference design carries 24 rounds: two four-tube salvos with 16 in reserve.
The platform draws three-phase power, runs its controls on 24 VDC, and meets the customer's systems at one capped connector.
The compressor is the only load on the 480 V three-phase supply. Everything else, the axis drives, the magazine, the breech valves, the pressure transducer, the console and the interlock chain, runs on a 24 VDC control bus kept physically apart from the three-phase side.
The operator console talks to the launcher on a CAN 2.0B bus. The fire-control interface is a wired connector left capped, its conductors held in reserve until a partner interface is defined. A cue reaches the console through it or is entered by hand, and either way it is a permissive.
| Interface | What crosses it | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Site power | 480 V three-phase, to the compressor | The supply the electrical design is drawn to |
| Control power | 24 VDC, to every other load | Design definition |
| Operator console | CAN 2.0B bus to the launcher | Design definition |
| Fire-control interface | Bearing, range and height as a permissive; capped until a partner interface is defined | Design definition; the published engagement page |
| Nose interface | Structure only; no power or signal to any head | Design definition |
Detect, track, classify and cue belong to the customer's own systems. The platform's boundary is the connector where their answer arrives.
Canadian Shield does not build radar, command and control or electro-optical sensing for this line. The platform's own sensing is a pressure transducer on the bank and a boresight reference on the mount, and nothing on the platform transmits by radio.
Most of what the platform needs is what any pneumatic and electrical machine needs. Two items set its working life.
The breech seal sits at the fastest and most violent transition in the system, and it is watched as a wear item on a schedule of its own. The pressure vessel has a life and an inspection interval that belong to the vessel, with documented hydrostatic test intervals, and a vessel outside its interval stops the launcher until it is back inside it.
The rest is the ordinary care of a pneumatic and electrical machine: filters, drains, fittings, bonding, encoder checks and the mount drives, on intervals written for this machine.
A launch platform is bought by the people who own the ground, the air supply and the authority to fire it.
Who it is for.
What it is not.
A build is named by what carries the tubes and how it stands on the ground. The bore, the charge pressure and the stroke do not change with it.
The build the design definition sizes: four Ø90 mm tubes on a common cradle, a 191 L air bank at 30 bar and a 24-round auto-index magazine. Every figure on this sheet is this build's.
A tube array on a scissor-elevating cradle over a skid frame, with horizontal air receivers along its flank, a control cabinet at one end, screw-jack levelling feet, lifting and tie-down points and forklift pockets. The frames on this sheet show this build.
The mount on a pedestal, bolted to prepared ground rather than jacked onto it, for a position that stays where it is.
The mount carried on a cradle fitted to a vehicle. The cradle is a seat for the mount, not for a crew, and fixed or vehicle is chosen per deployment.
The lines the platform holds on every build and for every customer.
The page this sheet specifies, and the sheets beside it in the line.
The page this sheet specifies, with the pictures and the reasoning.
A first conversation needs the site, the three-phase power and compressed air already on it, who holds the air picture that would cue the platform, and who would hold the arm key.
Not an offer. Enquiries are screened, international transfer is subject to Canadian government permits taken per shipment, and all designs, systems and technologies shown are patent pending.
