Guidance optimization for tactical homing missiles and air defense systems

The aim of this paper is to develop a functional approach to optimize the engagement effectiveness of the tactical homing missiles and air defense systems by utilizing the differential geometric concepts. In this paper the engagement geometry of the interceptor and the target is developed and expressed in differential geometric terms in order to demonstrate the possibilities of the impact triangles and specify the earliest interception based on the direct intercept geometry. Optimizing the missile heading angle and suitable missile velocity against the target velocity is then examined to achieve minimum missile latax, minimum time-to-go (time-to-hit) and minimum appropriate missile velocity that is guaranteed a quick and precise interception for the given target. The study terminates with different scenarios of engagement optimization with two-dimensional simulation to demonstrate the applicability of the DG approach and to show its properties.