Flight Performance, Guidance, Navigation, and Control of Missiles

Abstract

Abstract This chapter provides an overview of missile flight performance; the missile guidance, navigation, and flight control subsystems; as well as the state‐of‐the‐art of missile technology in these areas. Most of the material was derived from the textbook Tactical Missile Design, 2nd Edition and the technical course Tactical Missile Design – Integration ( http://genefleeman.home.mindspring.com/ ). Topics addressed in the missile flight performance section include drivers that limit the flight performance envelope; optimizing the parameters in the equations of motion for missile flight control effectiveness, maneuverability, speed, and range; predicting flight performance in cruise, descent, and boost; flight range comparisons of rocket, ramjet, and turbojet propulsion; and the required velocity for a homing intercept. Guidance topics include a comparison of active, semi‐active, and command guidance; line‐of‐sight rate requirement for proportional guidance; and the reduction in seeker range from atmospheric attenuation. Navigation topics include satellite Global Positioning System (GPS), inertial navigation system (INS), and data links. Flight control topics include types of flight control (tail, canard, wing, thrust vector, reaction jet) and flight control maneuver laws (skid‐to‐turn, bank‐to‐turn, rolling airframe). Finally, a discussion is provided of the role of missile system simulation in the technology development and design validation process.