A system for restraining one or more control surfaces of a tactical flight vehicle includes a retaining frame secured at an aft end of the tactical flight vehicle and a cover plate releasably coupled to the retaining frame with a resilient lock ring. The resilient lock ring is disposed between the retaining frame and the cover plate and is deformable between a locking configuration and an unlocking configuration. A control surface restraining ring is releasably coupled to the cover plate and has control surface restraints configured to engage respective control surfaces. The resilient lock ring is configured to deform from the locking configuration to the unlocking configuration upon a launch of the tactical flight vehicle such that the cover plate becomes uncoupled from the retaining frame and may be jettisoned from the tactical flight vehicle after the launch.