GUIDED MISSILES

TYPES OF GUIDED MISSILES

• Air to air
• Surface to air
• Air to surface
• Surface to surface
• Most missile trajectories are of a parabolic flight path
• Ballistic missiles travel in a ballistic flight path, where it will take under action of gravity

CONTINUED

• Long range missiles are generally ballistic and also have nuclear warheads
• Short range missiles generally contain highly explosive warheads
• Missiles can travel approximately at the speed of sound (340 m/s)
• Missiles typically weigh in at about 1500 kg

LASER GUIDED MISSILES

• Works by following the refracted light of a laser beam, which is pointing at the target.
• Light can be shown by the aircraft itself, another aircraft, or ground troops
• After launched, it's able to stay on target without the laser

LASER GUIDED MISSILES

• Used for high precision
• The disadvantage with laser guided missiles is that they can not detect the laser in adverse weather conditions
• Rain, too many clouds, and other conditions can disable the missiles from firing

GPS

• Because of the drawbacks with the laser guided missiles, GPS missiles were introduced
• Not affected by weather conditions
• This is because flight path is preset by using coordinates (latitude, longitude, elevation)
• Longer range than laser guided, but less precise

BALLISTIC MISSILES

• Launched at a steep angle that fires missile out of the atmosphere
• Once out of the atmosphere, the missile enters free-flight
• Flight path cannot be altered after all fuel is burned
• When missile reaches its peak, reentry phase begins, aligning the missile
• Gravity propels the missile at high speeds back into the atmosphere

EQUATIONS RELATING TO GUIDED MISSILES

EQUATIONS RELATING TO GUIDED MISSILES

• a-Acceleration, Vy-Final Velocity, Viy-Initial Velocity, t-Time
• The acceleration of the missile is equal to the final velocity subtracted by the initial velocity, and then divided by the amount of time the missile has been traveling

EQUATIONS RELATING TO GUIDED MISSILES

EQUATIONS RELATING TO GUIDED MISSILES

• F-Force, t-Time, m-Mass, v-Velocity
• The force of the collision is equal to the product of the mass and velocity of the missile, divided by the time of the collision

QUESTIONS

QUESTION #1

• A laser guided missile is fired at an initial speed of 220 m/s with an acceleration of 4.8 m/s squared. If it is traveling at 340 m/s just before it makes impact, how long was it in the air?
• A. 25 sec
• B. 15 sec
• C. 20 sec
• D. 10 sec

QUESTION #2

• A GPS missile, weighing 1,550,000 g travels at an average speed of 315 m/s. If the collision happens for .85 sec, what was the force of the collision excluding the explosion?
• A. 574,411,765 N
• B. 442,175,745 N
• C. 744,125 N
• D. 574,412,567 N

QUESTION #3

• How does a ballistic missile travel in its flight path?
• A. Fired, then follows a parabolic flight path.
• B. Already loaded with set coordinates
• C. Travels about 20 meters above ground at 1800 m/s
• D. Launched high into the air, then gravity propels it back at a high speed