An Implicit Side-Firing Gunship Fire Control System

Abstract

The problem of operating a side-firing gunship in a closed orbit about a target in the presence of wind is investigated. The orbit is determined to be elliptical with the target at one of the foci. Orbit stability is defined and two families of stable orbits for various ratios of wind speed to airspeed are calculated from the criterion for stability. The ballistic equations for side-firing guns (drag-dominated trajectory with gravitational perturbation) are solved analytically to determine ballistic drop. Ballistic-orbit matching is accomplished to determine the criterion for matching muzzle velocity and projectile ballistic coefficient to a stable orbit specified in terms of absolute altitude and aircraft airspeed.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 01, 1974
Accession Number
AD0777916

Entities

People

  • Tom J. Forster

Organizations

  • United States Air Force Academy

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Air Force
  • Aircrafts
  • Airspeed
  • Altitude
  • Angular Momentum
  • Apogees
  • Ballistic Trajectories
  • Colorado
  • Control Systems
  • Dermatologic Agents
  • Elliptical Orbits
  • Fire Control Systems
  • Muzzle Velocity
  • Orbits
  • Sea Level
  • Trajectories

Readers

  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Control Systems Engineering.
  • Space Exploration and Orbital Mechanics.

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Hall-Effect Thruster
  • Space - Orbital Debris
  • Space - Spacecraft Maneuvers