Limitations of Guns as a Defence against Manoeuvring Air Weapons

摘要

In the near future, strategic and other critical assets will be subject to attack from a new range of air threats, including highly accurate aircraft-launched weapons that offer long stand-off ranges and which are capable of travelling at high speed as well as maneuvering at high g rates. This study uses simple probability theory to determine the relative utility of current generation air-defense guns against this type of highly maneuverable weapon. The rationale for this study is that whilst guns may have the advantages of offering a low cost-per-shot and reasonable magazine capacities, they are also severely limited in their abilities as they are only designed to fire at a predicted intercept point in space. As a result, should the target alter its direction during an engagement, the target will no longer pass through the projectile's flight path.