Critical Role of a GPS and Radar Aided Inertial Navigation System to a Successful Exo-Atmospheric Intercept of a Ballistic Missile

摘要

On January 25, 2002, a Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) flightrntest was conducted off the coast of Kauai to evaluate thernSM-3 kinetic weapon’s guidance, navigation, and controlrncapabilities as it engaged a ballistic target missile. It wasrnthe fourth in a planned series of nine test flights torndemonstrate an exo-atmospheric hit-to-intercept of arnballistic missile target using a ship-based interceptor. Thernflight test met all its objectives and exceeded it when SM-rn3 successfully hit its target. The multi-stage SM-3 wasrnlaunched from an AEGIS cruiser upon detection of arntarget missile. The SM-3 third stage was equipped with anrninertial navigation system that was aided by an on-boardrnGPS and radar-measured position data uplinked from thernship. The successful intercept depended on the accuracyrnof the aforementioned navigation system since it was usedrnto align the kinetic weapon prior to its ejection. Thernoperational performance of the inertial navigation systemrnbased on the analysis of the January flight test telemetryrndata is provided. A top level design description of thernGPS and radar aided inertial navigation system as well asrnits navigation accuracy requirements is also provided.rnData comparing the differences between the GPS, radar,rnand inertial navigation solution is presented.