Attack Missile Research Articles

Multiple Model Adaptive Evasion Against a Homing Missile

Multiple model adaptive evasion strategies from an incoming homing missile are presented. The problem is formulated in the context of an evading target aircraft having imperfect information on the relative state and on the employed guidance law and guidance parameters of the missile. The missile’s guidance strategy is assumed to belong in a finite set of linear guidance laws and to be fixed throughout the engagement. Arbitrary-order linear missile and target dynamics, bounded target control, and nonlinear kinematics are also assumed. The filter used to identify the missile’s guidance strategy is a nonlinear adaptation of the multiple model adaptive estimator, in which each model represents a possible guidance law and corresponding guidance parameters of the attacking missile. Specific limiting cases are carefully analyzed in which the attacking missile uses proportional navigation, augmented proportional navigation, or an optimal guidance law. Matched optimal evasions from these specific cases are also derived and fit into the framework of the multiple model adaptive control approach. For the limiting cases, an alternative reduced-order approach is proposed to save computational resources. Considering noisy bearing-only measurements, the performance of the proposed evasion concepts is compared through a Monte Carlo simulation campaign to the scenario when the target has full knowledge about the attacking missile and the relative state.

Shoot–Shoot–Look for an Air Defense System

The common SHOOT–LOOK–SHOOT method, in which a second round of defenders is launched based on the kill assessment of the first round of defenders, is usually efficient in defending strategic or tactical targets against a salvo attack. However, using this method is not always practical due to time constraints. In the presented study, the alternative SHOOT–SHOOT–LOOK method is investigated, and an algorithm for its implementation is derived. Solutions to three main problems that arise while applying this method are presented: finding the optimal locations of the defending missiles for the second SHOOT stage, updating the locations of the defenders during the LOOK stage, and deriving the optimal allocation plan of the defending missiles to the attacking missiles. The solutions are based on a probabilistic analysis of the expected miss distance, between each pair of defender and attacker, which is dependent on the guidance law of the defender and geometry of the engagement. The results show that the algorithm can increase the probability of the defended target surviving the salvo attack, or alternatively, it can reduce the number of defenders needed to reach a given level of protection.

Relative Attitude Determination of Formation Spacecraft Based on Flight Mechanics

According to " leader missiles - attack missiles " formation model, the measurement model of missile in formation flight VisNav is derived. The observability analysis of missile VisNav is shown for cases involving three vector observations, the conclusion is that at least three characteristic points are visible to insure visual navigation systems to work properly. The least square algorithm is applied to process the data of VisNav to estimate the relative attitude and position. The results of simulation show that the accuracy of least square algorithm would be influenced by the relative position of missile in formation flight mechanics.

Missile acceleration controller design using proportional–integral and non-linear dynamic control design method

In this article, a method to make the normal acceleration of medium angle of attack missile to track some desired trajectories is presented. The dynamics which describe a missile acceleration are known to be non-minimum phase, which makes it difficult to use a straightforward feedback linearization technique. This article aims at showing that this problem may be overcome by employing cascaded regulations in the non-linear area. First, inner loop controller by dynamical sliding mode control (SMC) method based on asymptotic output tracking is designed for angle of attack control which has a minimum phase characteristics. Also then, the problem that is addressed here is the completion of the global loop by designing an additional outer loop proportional–integral (PI) controller and angle of attack estimator. The performance and stability of proposed method are illustrated via computer simulations.

Optimal Cooperative Pursuit and Evasion Strategies Against a Homing Missile

Optimal-control-based cooperative evasion and pursuit strategies are derived for an aircraft and its defending missile. The aircraft-defending missile team cooperates in actively protecting the aircraft from a homing missile. The cooperative strategies are derived assuming that the incoming homing missile is using a known linear guidance law. Linearized kinematics, arbitrary-order linear adversaries' dynamics, and perfect information are also assumed. Specific limiting cases are analyzed in which the attacking missile uses proportional navigation, augmented proportional navigation, or optimal guidance. The optimal one-on-one, noncooperative, aircraft evasion strategies from a missile using such guidance laws are also derived. For adversaries with first-order dynamics it is shown that depending on the initial conditions, and in contrast to the optimal one-on-one evasion strategy, the optimal cooperative target maneuver is either constant or arbitrary. These types of maneuvers are also the optimal ones for the defender missile. Simulation results confirm the usefulness and advantages of cooperation. Specifically, it is shown how the target can lure in the attacker, allowing its defender to intercept the attacking missile even in scenarios in which the defender's maneuverability is at a disadvantage compared with the attacking missile.

A Red Moon over the Mall: The Sputnik Panic and Domestic America

What happened after the fourth of October, 1957, was nothing short of a total crisis of confidence in the American way of life. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics had just initiated the space age by launching the first manmade satellite, named Sputnik or fellow traveler and Americans suddenly had to adjust to the notion that Russia was not a backwards nation but a technological equal. The launch of Sputnik and the ensuing panic had vast consequences on American postwar culture. Most histories of the Cold War treat the Sputnik launch as a relatively minor event-surely not as important as the Berlin Air Lift or the Cuban Missile Crisis-and in tracing its effects the focus is often on the very obviousthe heightened international tension of the Cold War, the foreign policy response from President Dwight Eisenhower and his administration, and the resulting nuclear arms buildup. In most people's minds Sputnik is more important for the political and military responses it occasioned than for the actual event itself. Although the launch was of little strategic importance, its full symbolic effect on the Cold War is almost unrivaled, eclipsed only by the moon landing a decade later and, of course, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. However, along with these official responses, the launch and its symbolism unleashed vast and often unheralded effects on the domestic front due to the society-wide crisis mentality it engendered. It changed the very mind-set with which Americans viewed communism and the Cold War. In more concrete terms, it also allowed for the reorganization and revaluation of the American educational system and established an alliance between government and university research. Perhaps even more importantly, it fractured, or at least exposed the cracks of, the Cold War consensus and perceived complacency of the 1950s. Sputnik not only offered a political opportunity for the Democratic Party but allowed for a serious and critical nationwide discussion of American postwar culture for the first time, publicizing the basic critiques that would gain enormous currency a decade later in the late 1960s. Sputnik was launched as part of the International Geophysical Year, a world-wide program of scientific exchange and experimentation that lasted from July 1, 1957, to December 31, 1958 (Brzezinski 92-93). The IGY offered the perfect way for the Soviet Union to make a bold statement while deflecting criticism that Sputnik was either a propaganda event or a military project. The launch was internationally hailed as a bold scientific achievement, despite the satellite's lack of significant scientific instruments or utility (Sherry 214). In fact, the United States had been planning to launch its own Vanguard satellite as part of the IGY, but Eisenhower had given it low priority despite the administration's previous knowledge of Russia's plans (Killian xvii). As White House Press Secretary James C. Hagerty explained to the press corps a day after the launch, We never thought of our program as one which was in a race with the Soviets (Senators Attack Missile Fund Cut 1). Part of the reason for the low priority was because the armed forces ironically did not think a satellite had much military potential at the time (Furnas 23). Eisenhower was a little smarter, recognizing the potential to create an orbital replacement for the U-2 spy plane. By separating the IGY project from the military missile programs, he hoped, much like the Russians, to deflect any potential international criticism of a satellite launch. The US satellite project, dubbed Vanguard, was confining to a weakly-funded civilian program with plans to launch in December of 1957 (Divine 1-5). By that time, a Soviet satellite would have already been circling the world, and the United States, for two months. Also, a comparison of the two satellites did not sit well with the American people: Sputnik was a 22-inch sphere weighing 184 pounds, traveling at a speed of 18,000 miles per hour in an orbit 550 miles above the Earth; in contrast Vanguard was the size of a grapefruit: only six-inches and 3. …

English

This paper proposes a solution methodology for a missile defence problem using theatremissile defence (TMD) concept. In the missile defence scenario, the concept of TMD is generallyused for the optimal allocation of interceptors to counter the attack missiles. The problem iscomputationally complex due to the presence of enormous state space. The Learning vectorquantiser–Radial basis function (LVQ-RBF) multi-agent hybrid neural architecture is used as thelearning structure, and Q-learning as the learning method. The LVQ-RBF multi-agent hybridneural architecture overcomes the complex state space issue using the partitioning and weightedlearning approach. The proposed LVQ-RBF multi- agent hybrid architecture improvises thelearning performance by the local and global error criterion. The state space is explored withinitial coarse partitioning by LVQ neural network. The fine partitioning of the state space isperformed using the multi-agent RBF neural network. The discrete reward scheme is used forLVQ-RBF multi-agent hybrid neural architecture. It has a hierarchical architecture which enablesquicker convergence without the loss of accuracy. The simulation of the TMD is performed with500 assets and six priority of assets.

Challenge — Naval Force Development

Challenge — Naval Force Development

Missile System Modeling in a Distributed Virtual Environment

In April 2003, The U.S. Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command (RDECOM) conducted an experiment called the First Application (1stApp), using a distributed virtual environment across a wide area network. The two objectives of this HLA-based distributed simulation were to establish a modeling and simulation cost/schedule/performance baseline for the development of a target distributed virtual environment for Future Force technical experimentation and to match tactics to physics to produce realistic expectations of the technical performance of networked fires for the U.S. Army Future Combat Systems (FCS). The core set of models and simulations for this event was developed and provided by the networked fires using Non-Line-of-Sight Launch System (NLOS-LS) Science and Technology Objective (STO). In particular, NLOS-LS developed models and virtual simulations of the NLOS-LS missiles and Mission Management Application (MMA), including modeling of the LADAR seeker on the Loitering Attack Missile (LAM) and the man-machine interfaces to display and utilize LADAR imagery in the battlefield context. This paper describes the LADAR models, missile flight models, MMA virtual simulations, LADAR visualization, and networked fires context that was used to represent NLOS LS in the 1stApp event. It also describes the distributed virtual environment and the simulation architecture that was used to represent the networked fires functionality, through the integration of simulations from a variety of organizations within the RDE Command.

The impact of gun dimensions on the operational effectiveness of a Naval surface fleet equipped with long range electromagnetic guns

The focus of the US Navy surface fleet in the post cold war era has shifted from confrontation with the (former) Soviet Union on the open ocean to supporting military operations ashore. This land attack mission requires large numbers of precision guided munitions to be delivered to aim points hundreds of miles inland. Navy long-range concept evaluations have identified electromagnetic launch as a technology with an excellent chance of affordably delivering these massed competent munitions. Preliminary studies have verified the feasibility of fulfilling this mission requirement with an electromagnetic (EM) gun. These same studies also amplified the need for the navy to articulate its operational requirements to the gun system designer so that a definitive engineering trade space study can be undertaken. This paper outlines a systems engineering approach to the land attack fleet whose major subsystems are: the targets, the targeting sensors, land attack missiles, carrier aviation, close in weapons systems, EM gun projectiles, the EM guns, the pulsed power system, the power distribution system, and the ships. Taking this fleet-level view identifies the operational role of the EM gun and the high leverage relationships between the operational, architectural and engineering trade space parameters. Identifying these roles and relationships will serve to facilitate the dialog between the naval fleet operator, the naval architect, and the electromagnetic gun engineer in an effort to identify tradeoffs that have a significant detrimental impact on gun development while incurring only minor penalties in operational capability.

Precision strike from the sea— HMS Splendid and Tomahawk

Last year saw the test firing by a Royal Navy submarine HMS Splendid of a live Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) against a simulated target off San Diego. Previously only operational with US forces, this potent weapon system has significantly enhanced the strategic reach and power of UK maritime capabilities, a capability that was brought to bear this year in strikes against Serbia. Here the Commanding Officer of HMS Splendid gives an account of the testing and deployment of this advanced system.

Midcourse guidance for a short-range attack missile using error compensation

A midcourse guidance law is developed for a short range attack missile of the SRAM I1 class which has a very high thrust-teweight ratio. The optimal control formulation is to minimize the flight time from a low altitude, subsonic launch to a fixed ground target 100 300 nm from the launch aircraft at any azimuth. An approximate optimal guidance law is developed by neglecting the aerodynamics and creating burnout conditions which enable the zero angle of attack coast to get close to the target. Simultaneously, error compensation terms are included in the state differential equations and final conditions that lead to a control law which can be tuned to improve the performance of the missile and enable it to hit the target. The error compensation weights are obtained by solving the true optimal control problem numerically. In practice, weights could be stored for each target range and azimuth and obtained from a table.

High Angle of Attack Missile Aerodynamics

A major influence in the aerodynamics of missiles is the significant amount of separated flow encountered for most flight conditions. This flow may be of an ordered nature, forming vortices, or random, such as encountered in wing stall. At high angles of attack the vortices of the body leeside flow may become unpredictably asymmetric, even on geometrically symmetric configurations, and their interactions with wing and tail panels can result in possible control problems. The modelling of such flows both accurately and easily is beyond present capabilities.

GPS/INS integration on the Standoff Land Attack Missile (SLAM)

The Standoff Land Attack Missile (SLAM) is a worldwide, all-weather, precision-strike weapon system deployed from carrier-based aircraft. In the primary mode of operation, target location and other mission data are generated from intelligence sources available on the aircraft carrier and loaded into the missile prior to aircraft takeoff. After missile launch, the SLAM inertial navigation system (INS) guides the missile along the planned trajectory. Updating the missile INS from the Global Positioning System (GPS) during flight provides precise midcourse navigation and enhances target acquisition by accurate, on-target pointing of the SLAM Maverick seeker. The GPS/INS avionics and software integration used for SLAM are described in detail, along with some of the design tradeoffs that led to the approach. The avionics configuration integrates the Harpoon midcourse guidance unit, which includes a strapdown inertial sensor package and digital processor, with a Rockwell-Collins single-channel, sequential GPS receiver processor unit (RPU), a derivative of the GPS phase-III user equipment. In addition to the GPS receiver elements the RPU contains the navigation processor, which executes the SLAM navigation, Kalman filter algorithms, and other guidance algorithms including seeker pointing. Flight-test results of the SLAM GPS-aided INS are also included.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Angle constraint for nuclear-pumped X-ray laser weapons

Nuclear-pumped X-ray laser weapons are constrained to have an output beam divergence that is at least as great as a certain minimum value. Because this value is large, such weapons used for ballistic missile defence will require disturbingly high megatonnages in space: for example, a total of ≥ 73 megatons within range of 1,000 attacking missiles, with individual warheads up to 3.7 megatons or higher.