EFFECTIVE MARV TRAJECTORIES FOR MULTIPLE MISSIONS

THE MANEUVERING REENTRY VEHICLE (MARV) PRESENTS SERIOUS PROBLEMS TO A MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM. BECAUSE OF ITS MANEUVER CAPABILITY, IT CAN GENERALLY EVADE INTERCEPTORS, AT LEAST OVER A PORTION OF THE BATTLESPACE. BECAUSE OF ITS LARGE MANEUVER FOOTPRINT, IT FORCES THE DEFENSE TO SEARCH A LARGE VOLUME OF THE SKY TO COVER ALL POTENTIAL ATTACKS. IN A PREVIOUS STUDY, AN ANALYSIS PROCEDURE TO EVALUATE MARV EFFECTIVENESS AGAINST A DEFENSE INHERENTLY CONSTRAINED IN BOTH THE SEARCH/DETECTION AND EVASION/INTERCEPT PHASES OF THE ENGAGEMENT WAS DEVELOPED. THIS METHODOLOGY DETERMINES OPTIMAL STRATEGIES FOR BOTH OFFENSE AND DEFENSE. IN THE PHASE I STUDY PROPOSED HERE, THE SCOPE OF THIS METHODOLOGY WILL BE EXPANDED BY RELAXING SOME OF THE SIMPLIFYING RESTRICTIONS OF THE EARLIER STUDY, AND BY IMPROVING THE FIDELITY OF THE INTERCEPTION MODEL, A FUNDAMENTAL COMPONENT OF THE ANALYSIS PROCESS. THE VALIDITY AND FEASIBILITY OF THE ANALYSIS APPROACH WILL BE DEMONSTRATED THROUGH EXAMPLE CALCULATIONS. REQUIREMENTS FOR AN ADVANCED VERSION OF THE METHODOLOGY HAVING A BROADER RANGE OF APPLICATION, AND FOR A COMPUTER CODE TO IMPLEMENT THIS PROCESS, WILL BE DESIGNED. THEN, IN PHASE II OF THE STUDY, THE ADVANCED METHODOLOGY WOULD BE DEVELOPED AND THE CODE CREATED AND PROVIDED AS A DELIVERABLE. (1) A UNIQUE AND INNOVATIVE METHODOLOGY FOR EVALUATING MARV PENETRATION EFFECTIVENESS WHICH ACCOUNTS FOR THE MANY INTERLINKED CONSTRAINTS ON DEFENSE OPERATIONS, AND WHICH DETERMINES OPTIMUM STRATEGIES FOR BOTH OFFENSE AND DEFENSE AS AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE EVALUATION PROCESS. (2) SPECIFICATIONS FOR A COMPUTER CODE WHICH IMPLEMENTS THE OPTIMIZATION PROCESS FOR USE BY MARV ANALYSTS, DESIGNERS, AND PLANNERS.