Limitations of Guns as a Defence against Manoeuvring Air Weapons

Abstract

In the near future, strategic and other critical assets will be subject to attack from a new range of air threats, including highly accurate aircraft-launched weapons that offer long stand-off ranges and which are capable of travelling at high speed as well as maneuvering at high g rates. This study uses simple probability theory to determine the relative utility of current generation air-defense guns against this type of highly maneuverable weapon. The rationale for this study is that whilst guns may have the advantages of offering a low cost-per-shot and reasonable magazine capacities, they are also severely limited in their abilities as they are only designed to fire at a predicted intercept point in space. As a result, should the target alter its direction during an engagement, the target will no longer pass through the projectile's flight path.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 2004
Accession Number
ADA426717

Entities

People

  • Alexander Krstic
  • Christian Washsberger
  • Michael J Lucas

Organizations

  • Defence Science and Technology Group

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Defense
  • Aircrafts
  • Ammunition
  • Bombs
  • Directed Energy Weapons
  • Explosives
  • Flight Paths
  • Ground Based
  • Guns
  • Low Drag
  • Munitions
  • Probability
  • Projectiles
  • Small Arms
  • Standards
  • Systems Science
  • Weapon Systems

Readers

  • Atmospheric Science / Meteorology, specifically Wind Wave Turbulence.
  • Marksmanship and Weaponry.
  • Missile Defense Systems.

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Spacecraft Maneuvers