Pursuit-Based Long-Range Air-to-Air Missile Midcourse Guidance Robust to Changes in the Predicted Impact Point

Abstract

This paper proposes a midcourse guidance method for long-range air-to-air missiles that is robust to changes in the predicted impact point (PIP) during flight. The guidance method consists of a reference trajectory with an altitude constraint and a pursuit-based guidance that follows the reference trajectory. Simulation comparisons with a suboptimal trajectory that maximizes terminal speed show that the proposed guidance method is significantly robust to changes in the PIP. The intercept performance for various peak altitudes and PIP change magnitudes is also analyzed.