Abstract: In this paper, a generation method of terminal engagement window (TEW), which describes the set of feasible engagement positions in the terminal guidance phase, is developed for the interception of hypersonic targets. Firstly, an analytical interception condition is established. On this basis, the analytical solutions of the TEW boundary are successively derived for the non maneuvering and maneuvering targets. Then, a controllable margin is defined and calculated for each position in the TEW according to the interceptor’s minimum and maximum initial heading angles. Finally, the TEW generation method is verified by simulations, and the influence factors are analyzed for the TEW boundary together with the controllable margin. Compared with the traditional numerical approaches, the proposed analytical approach has the consistent results but much lower computational cost, and thus is more capable to generate a TEW onboard. The results also indicate that the generation method is still effective when the measurement errors of the target exist.

Key words: Interceptor, Hypersonic target, Terminal engagement window, Interception condition, Maneuvering target