Missile guidance design tradeoffs for high-altitude air defense

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Practical design considerations for a high-altitude radar-guided air defense missile are presented. Three major contributors to miss distance are discussed—the radar signal return, the radar tracking seeker component imperfections, and the missile response limitations. At high altitude, glint may be the major contaminant in the radar signal. In addition, seeker component imperfections such as imperfect gimbal stabilization, radome refraction slope, and seeker gyro acceleration sensitivity cause stability and miss distance problems that the guidance system designer must solve. Finally, the missile response to guidance commands is limited by reduced acceleration capability, increased response time, and control fin rate saturation. The miss distance sensitivity of each of these factors is discussed and, in addition, the stability issues associated with the unwanted feedback paths created by component imperfections are addressed. Numerical examples are presented showing the significance of including practical hardware imperfections in preliminary design if performance goals at high altitude are to be met when the system is built. The paper provides a perspective of real-world problems which in theoretical investigations are often viewed as secondary issues, but which in fact may be the dominant factors that dictate the guidance and control system design parameters.