GPS-Aided Guidance for Ballistic Missile Applications: An Assessment

Gerald Frost and Irving Lachow

Abstract:	The proliferation of Third World ballistic missiles is a major concern for the U.S. government. These missiles can carry weapons of mass destruction, reach targets quickly, and are difficult to intercept. To date, this concern has been somewhat mitigated because these missiles are relatively inaccurate. But the potential of improving the accuracy of these missiles by using the Global Positioning System makes them a greater threat. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of U.S. control policies as they pertain to ballistic missiles, focusing on those with ranges of 300-1000 km. It quantifies the errors that affect missile accuracy and assesses the improvement that could occur by using GPS-aided inertial guidance. The paper concludes that GPS-aiding can improve the accuracy of shon- and medium-range missiles by approximately 20-25 percent and that Selective Availability has almost no effect on accuracy.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 51st Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (1995) June 5 - 7, 1995 Antlers Doubletree Hotel Colorado Springs, CO
Pages:	529 - 536
Cite this article:	Frost, Gerald, Lachow, Irving, "GPS-Aided Guidance for Ballistic Missile Applications: An Assessment," Proceedings of the 51st Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (1995), Colorado Springs, CO, June 1995, pp. 529-536.
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