Interceptor guidance for defending against hypersonic weapons

What is it about?

Hypersonic weapons fly at many times the speed of sound and can change course during flight. When several high-value assets are within reach, the defender may not know which one is under attack until late in the engagement. Conventional interceptor guidance steers toward the threat itself and must make sharp corrections if the threat turns. This paper develops a guidance method that instead keeps the interceptor in a favorable position to protect all assets at once, weighted by their importance.

Featured Image

Photo by Andrew Wilson on Unsplash

Photo by Andrew Wilson on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Hypersonic weapons are a growing concern for air defense because their speed and maneuverability leave little time to react. Most interceptor guidance methods focus on chasing the threat. This work instead builds guidance around what the defender must protect, using information the defender already has: which assets are at risk and how important each one is. In 1,000 simulated engagements under varied conditions, the method reduces the interceptor's total steering effort by 28% on average compared with a widely used standard guidance method, and leaves the interceptor better positioned for the final approach. The advantage is greatest when the attacker switches targets late, which is the behavior that makes hypersonic weapons hardest to counter. Because the method performs consistently across a wide range of launch locations, the defender does not need to know the attacker's intended target in advance.