An Overview of Modern Missile Systems

1
An Overview of Modern Missile Systems

• EE 692
• Thomas A. Hogue

2
The Beginnings of Missile Technology
V-1 Missile
London WW II
V-2 Missile
Photos courtesy www.wikipedia.org
3
Importance of Missile Systems
NMD Interceptor
Minuteman III
Photos courtesy www.wikipedia.org
4
How to characterize a missile system

• Basic Missile Types
• Missile Components
• Phases of Flight

5
Basic Missile Types
Photos courtesy www.wikipedia.org

• Air to Air
• Surface to Surface

• Surface to Air
• Air to Surface

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Phases of Flight
SM-2 AEGIS Flight Sequence
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Missile Components
Photo courtesy www.aerospaceweb.org
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Guidance Section Where is the missile supposed
to go?

• External Sensor
• Ground/aircraft based radar provides uplinks
• Commands via wire connected to rear of missile
• Long Range Onboard Sensors
• Inertial guidance use accelerometers to derive
  position
• Astroguidance use stars as a reference
• Terrain mapping ground measurements compared to
  pre-programmed data

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Guidance Section Seeker based

• Semi-active
• Target illumination from external radar or laser
• Homing, TVM, SAGG
• Active
• Onboard transmitter
• Fire and Forget
• Passive
• Infrared
• Passive RF

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Guidance Section - Autopilot

• Convert maneuver requirements to control surface
  deflections
• Requires knowledge of missile velocity,
  orientation, mass, etc
• Must operate under a variety of conditions

Photo courtesy www.mathworks.com
11
Armament Section Fuze Types

• Contact
• MANPADs
• Hit-To-Kill SAM systems
• Ballistic
• Timer-Based Ballistic
• Semi-Active external transmitter CW
• Active

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Armament Section - Fuzing

• Optimization difficult
• Multiple scattering surfaces
• Glint, multi-path are significant problems
• Targets cannot be modeled as point sources
• Wide, often fixed antenna beam
• Mounted on seeker
• Side of missile, forward looking
• What to trigger off of?
• Rapid increase then decrease of received
  amplitude
• Rapid change (and change in sign) of Doppler

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Armament Section - Warhead

• Size a function of miss tolerance
• Often directional may require endgame roll
  maneuvers
• Can carry nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons

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Armament Section Hit to Kill

• Warhead removed or minimized in hit-to-kill
  applications
• Current hit-to-kill is only effective against
  non-maneuvering targets
• Russia is already building maneuvering long-range
  ballistic missiles
• Systems will have to adapt to counter this threat.

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Control Section - Traditional

• Tail fin
• Most common
• Long range
• Wing
• Predicable control
• Large form factor
• Canards
• Short range
• Small form factor

Photo courtesy www.aerospaceweb.org
16
Control Section Thrust Vectoring

• Excellent maneuverability even in space
• Requires fuel
• May be combined with traditional control surfaces

Jet Vane
Movable Nozzle
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Control Section Reaction Jets

• Provides excellent endgame maneuverability
• Essential to meeting hit-to-kill requirements
• Requires reserve propellant
• Adds weight, complexity

Photo courtesy Air Force Research Laboratory
18
Control Sections Grid Fins

• Replace traditional tail fins
• Larger control surface fold easily for transport
• Excellent maneuverability at high Mach numbers
• Considerable drag around Mach 1

Image courtesy U.S. Army Research Laboratory
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Propulsion Section Propellant Types

• Liquid used in ballistic missiles
• Cryogenic
• Hypergolic
• Mono-propellant
• Solid - Common in missile systems
• Hybrid advantages and disadvantages of both
  systems

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Propulsion Section Gels

• Significant ongoing research and testing
• Safer and more stable than liquids
• More reliable and more powerful than solids
• Should be cheaper than other alternatives

Image courtesy CFD Research Corp.
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In Conclusion

• Missile research is ongoing around the world
• Some improvements are incremental some are
  significant
• Future systems
• More maneuverability at all stages of flight
• Longer range in smaller packages
• Better precision
• More lethal
• Evolution is a result of constant competition
  between countries

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References

1. V-1 flying bomb, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V1_Flying
   _Bomb
2. V-2 Rocket, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V2_rocket
3. Robb, Matt, White, Brian A., Tsourdos, A., and
   Rulloda, David, Reachability Guidance A Novel
   Concept to Improve Mid-Course Guidance, 2005
   American Control Conference, June 8-10, 2005
4. Missile Collection Missile Propulsion,
   www.rafmuseum.org.uk/cosford/collections/missiles/
   propulsion.cfm
5. News Archive Maneuverable Warheads,
   www.missilethreat.com/news/maneuverable_warheads.h
   tml, February 2006
6. Josef, Shinar, On the feasibility of
   hit-to-kill in the interception of maneuvering
   targets, Proceedings of the American Control
   Conference, June 25-27, 2001

1. Scott, Jeff, Missile Grid Fins,
   www.aerospaceweb.org/question/weapons/q0261.shtml
2. Ballistic Missile Basics, www.fas.org/nuke/intro
   /missile/basics.htm
3. Natan, Benveniste and Rahimi, Shai, The Status
   of Gel Propellants in Year 2000, Technion Israel
   Institute of Technology, 2001
4. U.S. Army Successfully Fires Gel Missile
   Propulsion System Built by TRW and Talley Defense
   Systems Team, www.findarticles.com/p/articles/
   mi_m0EIN/is_1998_Dec_16/ai_53407319, December 16,
   1998
5. Palaszewski, Bryan, Gelled Liquid Hydrogen A
   White Paper, February 1997