UNCLASSIFIED An Optimal t-Dv Guidance Law for Intercepting a Boosting Target

We at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have developed a new missile guidance law for intercepting a missile during boost phase. Unlike other known missile guidance laws being used today, the new t-Dv guidance law optimally trades an interceptor’s onboard fuel capacity against time-to-go before impact. In particular, this guidance law allows a missile designer to program the interceptor to maximally impact a boosting missile before burnout or burn termination and thus negating its ability to achieve the maximum kinetic velocity. For an intercontinental range ballistic missile (ICBM), it can be shown that for every second of earlier intercept prior to burnout, the ICBM ground range is reduce