Inflatable Dummy Target for Exo-Atmospheric Interception Testing

Solution Overview

Problem

The development of anti-missile technologies faces challenges in efficiently testing and retrofitting kill vehicles to intercept new ground-to-ground missiles, as creating a dummy threat with similar flight characteristics is costly and time-consuming, leaving defending states vulnerable to emerging threats.

Innovation Solution

An inflatable dummy target is used, capable of being released from a carrier missile during exo-atmospheric flight, which inflates to resemble the IR signature, RF signature, and geometry of a ground-to-ground missile, allowing for simplified and cost-effective simulation of real threats for interception trials.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If a dummy threat missile is developed to simulate real GTG missile flight characteristics, then the kill vehicle can be properly tested and validated, but the development process is costly and time-consuming (taking a few years)

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvekill vehicle validation accuracyVSAvoiddummy threat development time

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent creates a simplified dummy threat missile that copies only the essential flight characteristics (trajectory, velocity, altitude) of real GTG missiles without replicating their complete complexity. This allows the kill vehicle to be tested against a representative target while avoiding the years-long development cycle of a full-scale dummy missile

Inventive Principle:

Principle #26Copying

Solution Approach 2:

The dummy threat missile is designed as a low-cost, disposable target that can be quickly deployed and discarded after use. This eliminates the need for expensive, long-development-cycle dummy missiles while still providing sufficient test validation for the kill vehicle

Inventive Principle:

Principle #27Cheap short-living objects (Disposable)

2Reliability

If a dummy threat missile is developed to simulate real GTG missile flight characteristics, then the kill vehicle can be properly tested, but the financial cost is significantly high

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvekill vehicle validation accuracyVSAvoiddummy threat manufacturing complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSEase of manufacture

Solution Approach 1:

The patent creates a simplified dummy threat missile that copies only the essential flight characteristics (trajectory, velocity, altitude) of real GTG missiles without replicating their complete complexity. This allows the kill vehicle to be tested against a representative target while avoiding the years-long development cycle of a full-scale dummy missile

Inventive Principle:

Principle #26Copying

Solution Approach 2:

The dummy threat missile is designed as a low-cost, disposable target that can be quickly deployed and discarded after use. This eliminates the need for expensive, long-development-cycle dummy missiles while still providing sufficient test validation for the kill vehicle

Inventive Principle:

Principle #27Cheap short-living objects (Disposable)

3Adaptability or versatility

If the kill vehicle is retrofitted to handle new threats, then it can address emerging missile types, but the testing process extends the turnkey date leaving the defending state vulnerable

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvekill vehicle threat coverageVSAvoidturnkey date extension

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent enables rapid preliminary testing of kill vehicle retrofits against simplified dummy threats that can be quickly prepared and deployed. This allows the defending state to validate new threat countermeasures much faster than traditional methods, reducing the vulnerability period while maintaining adaptability to emerging threats

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentUS10260844B2Method for performing exo-atmospheric missile's interception trial

Publication Date: 2019.04.16 ISRAEL AEROSPACE IND LTD

AI summary

There is provided an inflatable dummy target comprising a chassis wrapped with a sheet. The chassis can be formed by individual inflatable ducts and can comprise at least two ring-shaped ducts interconnected by one or more elongate ducts. The inflatable dummy target can further comprise rigidizing ducts. The inflatable dummy target geometry can be conical, cylindrical, etc. Optionally, the inflatable dummy target can comprise several attached axi-symmetrical sections, wherein each section has a chassis wrapped with a sheet, the chassis formed by individual inflatable ducts. Optionally, the shape of each section can be selected from the group consisting of conical, frustoconical and cylindrical forms.