Abstract: In a ground launcher, two or more housing-transportation-launch assemblies for respective missiles are placed one on top of the other and connected releasably and interchangeably to each other; each housing-transportation-launch assembly has a respective outer casing, which in turn has longitudinal end walls breakable from inside the casing, and a deflecting body for deflecting the exhaust gas of the engine of the missile; a guide and protection assembly being interposed between the casing and the missile to guide the missile in the set launch direction, and to protect the missile against shock or vibration.

Abstract: In a ground launcher, two or more housing-transportation-launch assemblies for respective missiles are placed one on top of the other and connected releasably and interchangeably to each other; each housing-transportation-launch assembly has a respective outer casing, which in turn has longitudinal end walls breakable from inside the casing, and a deflecting body for deflecting the exhaust gas of the engine of the missile; a guide and protection assembly being interposed between the casing and the missile to guide the missile in the set launch direction, and to protect the missile against shock or vibration.

Abstract: A heavy and elongate recumbent load, such as a missile, is floatingly supported by two pairs of hydraulic pistons engaging it forwardly and rearwardly of its center of gravity, the pistons of each pair being oppositely inclined at 45.degree. to the horizontal. Each piston is part of a single-acting jack whose cylinder has its bottom end connected via a pair of antiparallel check valves to a source of hydraulic fluid, such as a pump in parallel with an accumulator, whose pressure substantially balances the component of the load bearing upon the respective piston. Each check valve has a bising spring so adjusted that it allows the valve to open in response to a manual force applied to the load near the point of attack of the associated piston whereby the load can be reoriented by hand, e.g. for alignment with a launching tube into which a missile is to be inserted with the aid of a carriage equipped with the four hydraulic jacks.