Lightning protection for vehicles

摘要

A lightning protection system for a vehicle 2 (e.g. a low-observable aircraft) includes a vehicle part 4 comprising a relatively electrically conductive core 6 and a relatively non-electrically conductive outer skin 8. The outer skin 8 surrounds, at least to some extent, the core 6 such that the core 6 is not visible from outside the vehicle 2. The lightning protection system comprises one or more relatively electrically conductive members 10 wherein each of the one or more members 10 is electrically connected to the core 6 and a portion of each of the one or more members 10 is exposed at an outer surface of the external skin 8. The electrically conductive members have a relatively large cross section where they connect to the core and taper to a point at the external skin. The system is intended to allow a lightning strike (16, fig 3) to pass from one external point to the core and exit via a different location at the vehicle extremity.