Escape Regions of the Active Target Defense Differential Game

Abstract

The active target defense differential game is addressed in this paper. In this differential game an Attacker missile pursues a Target aircraft. The aircraft is however aided by a Defender missile launched by, say, the wingman, to intercept the Attacker before it reaches the Target aircraft. Thus, a team is formed by the Target and the Defender which cooperate to maximize the separation between the Target aircraft and the point where the Attacker missile is intercepted by the Defender missile, while the Attacker simultaneously tries to minimize said distance. This paper focuses on characterizing the set of coordinates such that if the Target’s initial position belong to this set then its survival is guaranteed if both the Target and the Defender follow their optimal strategies. Such optimal strategies are presented in this paper as well.