Finned projectile with supplementary fins

Claim 1

A finned projectile for launching against a selected target, comprising a projectile body, a plurality of main fins attached to the projectile body to provide in-flight stability to the projectile, each of said main fins having an associated supplemental fin, a mechanism for initiating a fin sliding movement, retention means holding each main fin and its associated supplemental fin in an assembly for relative movement therebetween to increase the fin surface area of said projectile to further enhance the stability of the projectile during flight, whereby to maintain the desired trajectory of the projectile toward the selected target; said retention means including channel means on the main fins in said assembly, fastener means on said supplemental fin in said assembly for slidably retaining said supplemental fin and its associated main fin together for deployment under forces of inertia on the projectile during launch and flight thereafter, said retention means further including means for preventing deployment of the supplemental fin of said assembly during normal handling, transportation and storage of said projectile; and said deployment preventing means being a putty material.