An indirect method for the minimum altitude of air-to-surface missile

Trajectory shaping of an air-to-surface missile guidance with an impact angle constraint is presented. The missile must attack a fixed target by a vertical dive. The missile guidance problem is reinterpreted using optimal control theory resulting in the formulation of minimum integrated altitude problem. The formulation entails nonlinear, 2-dimensional missile flight dynamics, boundary conditions and path constraints. An indirect method is used to solve the problem. The influence of the boundary conditions on the structure of the optimal solution and the performance index are investigated. The results are then interpreted from the operational and computational perspective.