GB2143931A

GB2143931A - A sighting system for a guided missile

Info

Publication number: GB2143931A
Application number: GB08414943A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Roderich Ruger
Original assignee: Messerschmitt Bolkow Blohm AG
Current assignee: Airbus Defence and Space GmbH
Priority date: 1983-07-29
Filing date: 1984-06-12
Publication date: 1985-02-20
Also published as: GB2143931B; FR2549948A1; FR2549948B1; DE3327384C2; DE3327384A1; GB8414943D0

Abstract

In a sighting system a sighting mechanism 1 is provided for alignment with a target, for tracking the target and for directing a target- tracking search head 3a of a guided missile 2 in which both the correlation of the search head 3a with the heat image and the locking of the search head 3a onto the line of sight is carried out more simply and more accurately than hitherto. To achieve this, identical target- seeking instruments 8a, 8b are incorporated in the search heads 3a, 3b of the missile 2 and the sighting mechanism 1, and a correlator 7 is interpolated in electrical leads 9, 10, 11 between the search heads 3a, 3b. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A sighting system for a guided missile This invention relates to a sighting system for a guided missile.

Known sighting systems for target-tracking guided missiles have to be precisely aligned with the target prior to launching of the missile so that the search head of the missile can be directed at or locked onto the target.

Such sighting systems include a sighting mechanism which is operated by a gunner and is, for example, mounted in an airborne vehicle spatially far removed from the guided missile that is to be dropped. A typical known sighting mechanism for use in an airborne vehicle for attacking tanks or ships may, for example, consist of a direct-vision optical system (for example a telescope), a heat-image instrument, a TV-camera, a range-finder, a target-tracking instrument and a computer.

The locking of the search head of the missile onto the line of sight of the sighting mechanism is carried out by alignment or correlation of the search head with the heat image. For this, the heat image first of all has to be converted to the parameters of the searchhead image. As a result of the different nonlinear curves of the temperature resolutions of the search head and the heat-image instrument, this conversion is very difficult to achieve and an image transformation computer is necessary. However, even then image transformation is not always feasible if, for example, the amplification is adjusted manually at the heat-image instrument.Furthermore, the search head can be activated only shortly prior to the launch and the probability of the search head being locked onto the target from the actual target background information from the heat image has to be calculated with the aid of the target-tracking instrument and the computer.

An object of the invention is to provide a sighting system by means of which both the correlation of the search head with the heat image and the directing or locking of the search head onto the line of sight can be carried out more simply and more accurately than hitherto.

This object is achieved in accordance with the invention by provision of a sighting system including a sighting mechanism for aligning with a target, for tracking the target and for directing or locking a target-tracking search head of a guided missile onto the line of sight, characterised in that the sighting mechanism incorporates a target-seeking instrument which is identical to a target-seeking instrument in the search head of the guided missile.

The target-seeking instrument in the sighting mechanism is preferably axially-harmonised, i.e. parallel with the heat-image instrument and the TV-camera, so that axial alignment of the heat instrument with the search head in the missile is also possible. A further advantage is that the target-seeking instrument in the sighting mechanism can be kept permanently in operation so that the target tracking ability of the missile search head is checkable at any time for any landscape and for any target. With the system of the invention, there is no need to carry out the difficult transformation of the heat image into the search head image and compute from the heat-image data the probability for locking on the search head approximately prior to the launching and thus also the computer or computers which in the past had to calculate these functions.

In a refinement of the proposed system, a complete search head can be incorporated into the sighting mechanism. Since the search head of a guided missile also carries out target tracking, with the incorporation of the complete search head in the sighting mechanism the target-tracking instrument otherwise present there can be dispensed with.

The invention will be described further, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing in which the single figure is a schematic diagram of an exemplified embodiment of the sighting system of the invention.

The exemplified sighting system includes a sighting mechanism 1 for a guided missile 2 which has a target-tracking search head 3a.

The sighting mechanism 1 consists of a direct-vision optical system 4, a heat-image instrument 5, a further search head 3b, a TVcamera 6, which may also contain a rangefinder which is not shown separately, and a correlator 7. The search head 3b in the sighting mechanism 1 is axially-harmonised both mechanically and optically with the heat-image instrument 5. Target-seeking instruments 8a and 86 which produce the search head image are located in the search heads 3a and 3b respectively. The correlator 7 is connected by a lead 9 to the search head 3b and by the leads 10 and 11 to the search head 3a.

If a gunner, indicated by an eye 12, uses the sighting mechanism 1, he can, by looking through the direct-vision optical system 4, take a bearing on a target on a line of sight 1 3 passing through the axis of the search head 3b. In so doing, an axis 14 passing through the search head 3a is automatically axially-harmonised, i.e. made parallel with the line of sight 1 3 by way of the correlator 7.

Thus, during the sighting procedure, the images in the target-seeking instruments 8a and 8b are simply and exactly correlated and axially-harmonised, so that the missile 2 can be launched at any time without further computing operations. The search head 3b can also continue automatically to track the target shown to it in the approach run to the target and thus also undertake the function of a target-tracking instrument. This, in collaboration with the search head 3a of the missile 2, is particularly advantageous in the case of moving targets. It is also advantageous to incorporate the sighting mechanism 1 into an aircraft.

Claims

1. A sighting system including a sighting mechanism for aligning with a target, for tracking the target and for directing or locking a target-tracking search head of a guided missile onto the line of sight, characterised in that the sighting mechanism incorporates a target-seeking instrument which is identical to a target-seeking instrument in the search head of the guided missile.

2. A sighting system as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the target-seeking instruments in the sighting mechanism and in the search head are connected together by an electrical lead.

3. A sighting system as claimed in claim 2, characterised in that a correlator is interpolated in the electrical lead between the targetseeking instruments.

4. A sighting system as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3, characterised in that the targetseeking instrument of the sighting mechanism is axially-harmonised mechanically and optically with other instruments, for example a direct-vision optical system, a seat-image instrument and a television camera.

5. A sighting system as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the sighting mechanism incorporates a complete search head identical to that in the guided missile.

6. A sighting system substantially as here it before described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawing.