The Use of GPS for the Guidance of Ballistic Missiles

Jerry W. Fields, Karl W. Shallberg and Phillip W. Ward

Abstract:	The use of GPS can provide significant improvements to the accuracy of ballistic missiles. Moreover, by reducing the need for precise alignment of the inertial measurement unit (IMU) prior to launch, the use of GPS can significantly reduce the time and effort required for prelaunch preparation of the missile. This in turn can improve prelaunch survivability, particularly for mobile missiles. A recent study sponsored by the U.S. Government addressed the use of GPS in ballistic missile navigation and guidance in a general manner, and assumed a certain range of receiver precision in measuring pseudorange and delta pseudorange (Reference 1). These measurements are critical to the degree of accuracy improvement that can be achieved, especially in the absence of selective availability (SA). The present paper discusses this issue in detail. The analysis demonstrates that, depending on factors such as missile range and quality of inertial performance, impact miss statistics can be reduced significantly, even when the user is forced to use the GPS signal degraded by the present day-to-day level of SA. If the effects of SA are removed, the guidance errors are seen to be further reduced to the point at which the total missile impact dispersion will be dictated primarily by non-guidance factors. Since the study is intended to represent generic improvements that might reasonably be achieved by the proper implementation of GPS, and are not intended to be representative of any one particular missile system, the results are presented parametrically.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 9th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1996) September 17 - 20, 1996 Kansas City, MO
Pages:	1587 - 1595
Cite this article:	Fields, Jerry W., Shallberg, Karl W., Ward, Phillip W., "The Use of GPS for the Guidance of Ballistic Missiles," Proceedings of the 9th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1996), Kansas City, MO, September 1996, pp. 1587-1595.
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