Critical analysis of known missile guidance methods

Abstract

Modern missile guidance methods play a key role in ensuring the effectiveness and reliability of air and missile defense systems. The choice of an appropriate guidance method directly affects target interception accuracy, flight time, and hardware implementation requirements of control systems. Until recently, most guidance methods were developed for limited engagement conditions, making their critical analysis particularly relevant from the standpoint of modern requirements.

The purpose of this study is to analyze and systematize well-known missile guidance methods to identify their advantages, limitations, and areas of effective application. Studying this issue makes it possible to obtain a deeper understanding of the current state of missile guidance theory and to substantiate the necessity of further research in this field. Thus, the article aims to perform a comparative analysis of classical guidance methods and to formulate requirements for a prospective guidance method capable of improving the performance of air and missile defense systems.

The paper considers pursuit guidance, constant lead angle guidance, proportional navigation, and parallel navigation methods. Their kinematic trajectories, application conditions, and compliance with the main requirements for modern guidance algorithms are analyzed. It is shown that none of the considered methods simultaneously satisfies all the stated requirements. Based on the performed analysis, the relevance of developing a new guidance method is substantiated. This method should be based on the further development of parallel navigation and incorporate an agent-oriented approach in three-dimensional space.