Development of a satellite borne tactical ballistic missile trajectory prediction tool

A trajectory prediction program was developed to predict the full trajectory (partially tracked by a satellite or a radar) of a tactical ballistic missile. In order to improve the accuracy of the ballistic coefficient an adaptive C/sub D/ model is developed. Dynamic model, filtering of measurements, geocentric Earth model and atmosphere model were applied and the details of the models and test results are presented. Input to the program is coordinates of the tracked trajectory portion and output is the full trajectory. In this way the launch and target point can be obtained within seconds of execution time.