Robust terminal guidance law design for missiles against maneuvering targets

This paper describes an application of a new terminal guidance law for missiles against maneuvering targets in three-dimensional (3D) environment during the terminal phase. This novel approach is suitable for practical implementation of the guidance law under the circumstance of a guided missile against a maneuvering target. The design procedure is divided into two steps. First, a feedback linearization control scheme is designed to approximately achieve desired tracking of the uncertain missile-target system. Next, a combined optimal robust control scheme is employed to minimize the worst-case effect arising from external disturbances (target's maneuvers) in improving the tracking performance. Simulation examples are presented to illustrate engagement performance of the proposed approach.