The use of visual sensing to acquire and track targets has the potential to significantly reduce cost in comparison to active sensors. We present preliminary results for a system that combines a webcam with a toy foam missile launcher on an altitude-azimuth mount. The controller uses foreground segmentation to identity new elements in a scene. It then applies SURF feature detection and a pinhol...

The flight environment of the Standard Missile, Block IV A interceptor involves high speeds that place severe aerodynamic and aero-thermalloads on the missile optical window and sensor. The supersonic flow over the missile produces aero-optical effects that can degrade IR seeker performance. This report summarizes an analysis of aero-optical aberrations due to shock front and shear layer densit...

The application of a new nonlinear robust control strategy to the design of missile autopilots is presented. The control approach described and demonstrated here is based upon the numerical solution of the Hamilton-Jacobi-Isaacs equation by Successive Galerkin Approximation. Using this approach, feedback controllers are computed by an iterative application of a numerical Galerkin-type PDE solve...

The use of a three dimensional Discrete Element Method (DEM) is proposed to study concrete submitted to flat rigid nose shaped missile impacts. Spalling, scabbing, penetration and perforation events are characterized by the model. The reduction in missile velocity is compared with real test cases made by the French Atomic Agency. The first results show a good agreement between the numerical and...

Micro-Doppler (MD) caused by the motion of the ballistic missile can contribute to successful recognition of the ballistic missile. Considering the real observation scenario. This paper proposes a method to derive the MD image of the ballistic missile by applying the range-Doppler algorithm (RDA) based on the real flight scenario and analyzes the factor for the real-time MD imaging. Simulation ...

Gregory Koblentz is a Junior Fellow with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C. The missile competition in South Asia is on the verge of a new and dangerous phase that threatens to disrupt the delicate strategic balance of the subcontinent. India and Pakistan already have stockpiles of ballistic missiles, along with the associ...

The Compact Kinetic Energy Missile (CKEM) is currently being developed as the Army’s newest hypervelocity anti-tank missile. The project has recently transitioned from the Science and Technology Objective phase to the Advanced Technology Demonstration phase. Science and technology phase flight testing required the development of a miniature telemetry system for measuring the super sonic flight ...

This paper presents a new practical autopilot design approach to acceleration control for tail-controlled skid-to-turn (STT) missiles. The approach is novel in that the proposed parametric affine missile model adopts acceleration as the controlled output and considers the couplings between the forces as well as the moments and control fin deflections. The aerodynamic coefficients in the propose...

Recent allegations that Russian firms are aiding missile programs in Iran and India have renewed fears that sensitive technology is leaking to countries of proliferation concern from the economically strapped Russian missile industry. Pessimists argue that the leakage of Russian technology could greatly reduce the time needed by potential proliferants to develop mediumand longer-range missiles ...