KINETIC ENERGY WEAPONS

THE ACQUISITION OF POST BOOST PHASE VEHICLES AND/OR INDIVIDUAL REENTRY VEHICLES BY AN INFRARED SENSOR ON BOARD A SMALL G HARDENED PROJECTILE WHICH SUBSEQUENTLY HOMES ON AND IMPACTS ITS TARGET OFFERS AN ATTRACTIVE APPROACH FOR REENTRY VEHICLE KINETIC ENERGY KILL. THE ACQUISITION, TRACKING, DISCRIMINATION AND GUIDANCE FUNCTIONS REQUIRED OF SUCH AN IR SENSOR RESULT IN A NUMBER OF CRITICAL ISSUES. THE SENSOR ACQUISITION RANGE IS OF PRIMARY IMPORTANCE AND IF EXTENDED SIGNIFICANTLY CAN PROVIDE DRAMATIC PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT AND OVERALL SYSTEM COST REDUCTION. ACQUISITION RANGE IS LIMITED PRIMARILY BY HARD EARTH BACKGROUND (BOTH DC AND CLUTTER) AND THE DETECTION ALGORITHMS USED TO IDENTIFY TARGETS. SENSOR WAVEBAND OPTIMIZATION FOR REDUCING HARD EARTH BACKGROUND AS WELL AS EXTENDED MTI (MOVING TARGET INDICATOR) ALGORITHMS ARE PROPOSED FOR THIS INVESTIGATION. EXTENDING PROJECTILE ACQUISITION RANGE WILL INCREASE TOTAL DIVERT CAPABILITY SUBSEQUENTLY RELAXING BOTH HANDOVER ERROR VOLUME AND LAUNCHER POINTING ACCURACY REQUIREMENTS.