US3882496A

US3882496A - Non-destructive weapon system evaluation apparatus and method for using same

Info

Publication number: US3882496A
Application number: US453477A
Authority: US
Inventors: Virgil D Lewis; Gregory V Cirincione
Original assignee: US Department of Army
Current assignee: US Department of Army
Priority date: 1974-03-21
Filing date: 1974-03-21
Publication date: 1975-05-06
Anticipated expiration: 1992-05-06

Abstract

A method and apparatus for nondestructively evaluating the performance of a weapon system. The unique concept embodied in the present invention provides nondestructive scoring of weapon systems during simulated battlefield testing and also provides a technique of nearly total simulation of the gun laying and firing of a real weapon system. In a preferred embodiment within the context of an integrated fire control weapon system, the present invention includes a gun, a laser, and a radar, all of which are mounted on separate and independently operable pedestals. The radar or tracking device supplies position and range information to the control device which computes the required lead angle and predicted range which, in turn, defines the point in space where projectile/target intercept will occur. The gun is then positioned by the control device in such a way that, if then fired, the projectile will then pass through the predicted point in space a time of flight thereafter. Utilizing the same information, a laser control device positions the laser pedestal so that at the end of time of the flight of the projectile, the laser will be positioned towards the predicted point. The laser is fired by the control device at the precise point in time corresponding to the predicted intercept time of the projectile and target. The resultant hit or miss information, which may, for example, be obtained by means of a laser receiver mounted on the target, is indicative of the total operational evaluation of the weapon system including the weapon''s target acquisition and tracking devices, the prediction, gun laying, and projectile performance of the system.

Description

Lewis et al.

May 6, 1975 NON-DESTRUCTIVE WEAPON SYSTEM EVALUATION APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR USING SAME Inventors: Virgil D. Lewis, Silver Spring;

Gregory V. Cirincione, Rockville, both of Md.

[73] Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army, Washington, DC.

[22 Filed: Mar. 21, 1974 21 Appl. N0.2 453,477

US. Cl. 343/6 R; 35/25; 343/7 ED Int. Cl. F4lg 3/26; GOls 9/02 Primary ExaminerMalcolm F. Hubler Attorney, Agent, or FirmNathan Edelberg; Robert P. Gibson; Saul Elbaum [57] ABSTRACT A method and apparatus for nondestructively evaluat- LASER ing the performance of a weapon system. The unique concept embodied in the present invention provides nondestructive scoring of weapon systems during simulated battlefield testing and also provides a technique of nearly total simulation of the gun laying and firing of a real weapon system. ln a preferred embodiment within the context of an integrated fire control weapon system, the present invention includes a gun, a laser, and a radar, all of which are mounted on separate and independently operable pedestals. The radar or tracking device supplies position and range information to the control device which computes the required lead angle and predicted range which, in turn, defines the point in space where projectile/target intercept will occur. The gun is then positioned by the control device in such a way that, if then fired, the projectile will then pass through the predicted point in space a time of flight thereafter. Utilizing the same information, a laser control device positions the laser pedestal so that at the end of time of the flight of the projectile, the laser will be positioned towards the predicted point. The laser is fired by the control device at the precise point in time corresponding to the predicted intercept time of the projectile and target. The resultant hit or miss information, which may, for example, be obtained by means of a laser receiver mounted on the target, is indicative of the total operational evaluation of the weapon system including the weapons target acquisition and tracking devices, the prediction, gun laying, and projectile performance of the system.

10 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures FIRE OPERATOR RANGE HRE RE coMMAND SIGNAL FIRE TRACK CIRCUIT 1. 93 96 4 j EL ANGLE DATA M 90 LEADANGLE OFFSET EL EL COMMAND 5 GUN/DP EL 4o POSITION I A 55 H5 71 9| INTEGRATED LASER CONTROLLER 4| 62 PREDICTED /66 m NG I f 35 SYSlEp I 85 ,3- II AU v 56 58 I 1 I U VARIABLE A TIME c I TRACKER G l CROSS A OORDINATE GUN EL EULN LAESLER I G COUPLE E G CONVERTER DIRECTOR TR/RgKER GUN LASER oRREcT'ca a I s v AZ PROCESSOR Aw I 80 so so 70 I -I j I n n a B l T j w w 92 i 42 52 54 TIME OF 68 FLIGHT GUN/DP AZ l COORD B 64 72 POSITION I CONVERT i Ga 65 l I AZ COMMAND VELOCITY LEAD ANGLE OFFSET AZ ANGLE DATA PATENTEDHAY M975 3.882.496

SHEET 1 T 5" x-fi FIG. I F|G.2

76? 5O 67% CONTROLLER CONTROLLER CONTROLLER DIFFERENT 5 DATA A B BEGI SMOOTH PRED POS FIRE AvER TIME ANGLE LAsER LAsER LINE OF SIGHT LASER T BEGIN PRED POS FIRE A AVER ANGLE LASER LASER DIFFERENT ANGLEBIPOS DELAYED BEGIN SMOOTH4P1RED P08 P08 DELAY FIRE LASER AvER TIME ANGLE TuR'T LAsER TIME LAsER SAME ANGLESI POSITION REALGuN BEGIN PRED POS FIRE LI HT ,.F ROJ SYSTEM AVER ANGLE GUN GUN TIME INTER L I I I I s T T1 T T- TIME NON-DESTRUCTIVE WEAPON SYSTEM EVALUATION APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR USING SAME RIGHTS OF THE GOVERNMENT The invention described herein may be manufactured, used, and licensed by or for the United States Government for governmental purposes without the payment to us of any royalty thereon.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the lnvention This invention relates to weapon performance evaluation systems, and more particularly to a nondestructive performance evaluation of a weapon system which utilizes a laser as a primary component thereof.

2. Description of the Prior Art It is often very useful to be able to evaluate the performance of a weapon system, such as an integrated fire control weapon system, without the expense and hazard involved in the actual firing of real weapons and the subsequent destruction of a target.

Present techniques utilized for such nondestructive evaluation of weapon systems are, however, limited to the evaluation only of the tracking device of the system. For example, one such system presently in wide use for such nondestructive evaluation tests is commonly referred to as a line-of-sight (L.O.S.) laser system. When utilized in an integrated anti-aircraft artillery system, the LOS laser is fired when the operator presses the gun firing mechanism of the weapon. The laser emits a beam in a direction along the line of sight to the target as defined by the tracking device. Since a laser can be characterized as a virtually instantaneous device, no lead angle or gravity correction is necessary to aim it accurately; hence the laser may be mounted directly on the tracking device, or, alternatively, the gun-aiming commands of the weapon may be by-passed and the laser mounted directly on the gun itself. It is readily apparent that in either of the foregoing cases, total system evaluation is not possible inasmuch as misses cannot be evaluated since there is no means of determining the degree of error involved in a miss. Accordingly, the primary purpose of the LOS laser scoring is of a psychological nature rather than a physical one. The only parameter which may be physically evaluated is the performance of the tracking device which can be accomplished in terms of the number of hits obtained for each encounter. Accordingly, it is seen that the use of the LOS laser technique results in a performance evaluation of the tracking system only, and fails to take into consideration the essential characteristics of the gun laying and trajectory performance characteristics of the weapon under test.

It is seen, therefore, that the LOS laser system falls far short of accomplishing a total operational evaluation of the weapon system, which includes not only the performance of the weapons target acquisition and tracking devices, but also the prediction, gun laying, and projectile performance of the system. Accordingly, a great need exists for a technique and apparatus which would allow total evaluation of integrated fire control systems under tactical battlefield conditions which approximates the performance and operation of the real weapon.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a nondestructive technique for the evaluation of the performance of a weapon system which takes into account not only the target tracking capability of a system, but also utilizes, on a projectileto-projectile basis, the ballistic and trajectory information supplied by the controlled subsystem of the weapon.

Another object of the present invention that is to provide a technique for nondestructively evaluating the performance of a weapon system which approximates the performance and operation of the real weapon to a very high degree.

An additional object of the present invention is to provide a novel and unique method and apparatus for use in the nondestructive evaluation of the performance of a weapon system which allows total evaluation of integrated fire control weapon systems under tactical battlefield conditions.

A still additional object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for nondestructive evaluation of the performance of a weapon system which may be easily and inexpensively adapted to existing laser scoring systems presently in use and which is adaptable to the evaluation of any type of weapon system that requires prediction or guidance of the weapon to intercept its intended target.

An additional object of the present invention is to provide a technique for evaluating the total performance of a weapon system that provides nearly total simulation of the gun laying and firing of a real weapon system without the expense and hazard involved in the firing of real weapons and the subsequent destruction of the target.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a technique for nondestructively evaluating the performance of the weapon system which accomplishes the same psychological function as the prior art LOS laser scoring method; and in addition takes into account the total system performace from target acquisition to projectile/target intercept.

The foregoing and other objects are attained in accordance with one aspect of the present invention for the provision of apparatus for nondestructively evaluating the performance of a weapon system, which comprises a weapon for launching a projectile intended to intercept a moving target, a tracker for obtaining position and range data of the target while in flight, and a gun director which is responsive to the data from the tracker for computing the lead angle and predicted range of the target which defines a point in space where the projectile, if then launched, will intercept the target. The apparatus further includes a laser and a laser control device which is responsive to the gun director for positioning the laser toward said point in space and which activates the laser at the end of a predetermined time interval corresponding to the time of flight of the projectile whereby the laser beam will intercept the above-described point in space and provide an indication of a hit or a miss condition taking into account not only the tracking capability of the system but also the ballistic and trajectory information supplied by the gun director. The laser is mounted on a pedestal which may be positioned by the laser control device independently from the tracking portion of the system. To obtain this evaluation data, a recording camera could be mounted on, or in parallel to, the laser pedestal. The camera, if bore sighted with the laser, would provide a qualitative indication of tracking and/or prediction errors to be available for post-mission analysis. The laser control device provides incremental position and/or velocity commands to the laser pedestal over a predesignated period of time. At the end of this period, the laser will have been directed to a predicted point in space and fired, consequently illuminating the projectile/target intercept point. A preferred embodiment of such a laser controller is presented within the context of a selfcontained fully integrated weapon system capable of firing on the move.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Various objects, features and attendant advantages of the present invention will be more fully appreciated as the same becomes better understood from the following detailed description of the present invention when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGS. 1 through 3 are sequential schematic representations helpful in understanding the principles of operation of the system of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a preferred embodiment of an integrated weapon system incorporating the novel delayed position laser of the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is a schematic representation on a time scale which illustrates a comparison between the delayed laser of the present invention, the prior art line-of-sight laser, and the operation of a real weapon system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings, wherein line reference numerals designate identical or corresponding parts throughout the several views, and more particularly to FIGS. 1 through 3 thereof, there is depicted therein time sequence schematic diagrams embodying the principles of the present invention in an integrated fire control weapon system which comprises a gun 60, a laser 70, a radar or tracking device 50, all of which are mounted on separate pedestals, and which are interconnected by means of a controller 40. Controller 40 may comprise, for example, a computer. Altematively, the controller could comprise a digital or mechanical-analog device such as the one explained in more detail hereinafter with reference to FIG. 4. One purpose of controller 40 is to provide incremental position and/or velocity commands to the laser 70 over a predesignated period of time in response to information received from tracking device 50. The gun 60 may represent any of a number of conventional weapons, such as an anti-aircraft artillery gun. Laser 70 is designated to emit a nondestructive laser beam when activated by controller 40. The beam width of laser 70 is set to correspond to the dispersion of the particular weapon 60 to be simulated. Laser 70, when fired, is pulsed at the fire rate of the simulated weapon and, although the firing sequence is initiated by the gunner using the regular gun firing mechanism, the actual firing of laser 70 is accomplished by controller 40. Laser 70 is mounted on a pedestal which may be positioned by controller 40 independently from the tracking device 50. In most practical systems, the laser pedestal may be the gun mount itself. The tracking device 50, which may comprise a conventional radar, maintains track of the target, in this instance an aircraft, and supplies position and range data to controller 40.

Referring now more specifically to the time sequence illustrated in FIG. 1, radar 50 is seen to be locked on to the target aircraft to provide position and range data to controller 40. The gun director within controller 40 computes the required lead angle and predicted range which defines the point in space (PP) where projectile/target intercept will occur. Referring now to FIG. 2, controller 40 then supplies gun 60 with the proper commands to position gun 60 in such a manner that when the gun is fired, the projectile will pass through the predicted point in space (PP) a time of flight of the projectile later. During the same time frame as depicted in FIG. 2, and utilizing the same information, controller 40 positions the laser pedestal so that at the end of the time of flight of the projectile, the laser will be pointed at the predicted point (PP). Referring now to FIG. 3 in the sequence, the projectile burst will occur at the predicted point when the time of flight has expired. Rather than actually fire gun 60, however, at the end of this predetermined time of flight interval, the laser, having previously been aimed to this same point in space, will be actuated by controller 40 so that the laser illumination will occur simultaneously with the simulated projectile burst at the predicted point. Gun 60, as seen in FIG. 3, will already have been positioned for the next projectile; accordingly, in real time, laser 70 will lag gun 60. If no errors occur, laser 70 will track the target using information supplied a time of flight of the projectile prior to its firing.

It is therefore apparent, in accordance with the above brief description, that controller 40 utilizes not only the tracking data provided by radar 50 but the prediction data on each projectile based on the lead angle and time of flight which is supplied by the gun director in accordance with the information supplied by radar 50. In this manner, the system of the present invention in evaluating system performance takes into account not only the target tracking capability but the ballistic and trajectory information so essential to a complete performance evaluation of the system. In brief summary, controller 40 positions laser 70 such that when the time of flight for each projectile has expired, laser 70 is pointed at that point in space where the gun director has predicted projectile/target intercept. At this point in time, the'controller fires the laser obtaining a hit/no hit condition based on total weapon performance. To obtain this evaluation data, a recording camera could be mounted on, or in parallel to, the laser pedestal. The camera would preferably be bore sighted to the laser thereby providing a qualitative indication of tracking and/or prediction errors for postmission analysis.

Depending upon the weapon to be simulated, the subsystem required to control the laser can be relatively simple in its general operation, and its function could be performed, for example, by either a digital or mechanical-analog device. In general, the purpose of the laser controller is to provide incremental position and/or velocity commands to the laser pedestal over a predesignated period of time. At the end of this period, the laser will have been directed to a predicted point in space and actuated, consequently illuminating the projectile/target intercept point.

Referring now to FlG. 4, there is depicted a block diagram of a self-contained, fully integrated weapon system capable of firing on the move which incorporates the laser controller 40 in a preferred embodiment incorporating the principles of the present invention. The system includes a tracking device 50, a gun mount 60, and a laser pedestal 70, all of which are capable of independent motion. The tracking and laser pedestals may be mounted on the gun mount. Each of the three pedestals are gyro-stabilized, not only for vehicle motion, but also for compensation for the relative motion between the tracker and laser pedestals and the gun mount. The system as depicted in FIG. 4 is also seen to comprise a laser controller indicated generally within the dotted outline at 40, a gun director 80, a laser fire circuit 95, and a range tracker 90. A number of adders and subtracters, indicated generally at 52, 54, 56, 58, 62, and 64 interrelate the positional coordinates of tracker 50, gun 60, and laser 70 in a manner to be described in more detail hereinafter. The tracking and gun laying functions are based on inertial coordinates relative to the bore sight of the tracking device 50. The gun mount 60 is slaved to the tracking device 50 by means of

subtracters

52 and 56,

adders

62 and 64, and

lines

66 and 68. Lead angle offsets for both elevation and azimuth are provided to the gun mount 60 by the gun director 80 by means of

lines

55 and 65 to properly aim the gun (i.e., the predicted lead angles are added to the slave servos of the gun mount).

During each sample period, the gun director 80 receives angle and range information from the angle tracker 50 and range tracker 90 along

lines

35, 45, and 75, respectively. For the sake of simplicity, we may assume that the sample rate is equal to the firing rate of the particular gun to be simulated. in on actual operating system, however, the sample range would be much higher (on the order of 100 samples per second) in order to improve the positioning accuracy of the system, but the functions of the controller 40 to be described hereinafter would be identical. The gun director 80, after receiving the angle and range information, feeds the predicted range and time of flight information to the controller 40 along

lines

41 and 42, respectively. Controller 40 receives the lead angle information (A and B) directly according to the relative position of the laser pedestal 70 and the gun pedestal 60 along

lines

71 and 72. Accordingly, the actual distance through which the laser pedestal 70 must move during the time of flight is determined, and, together with the position corrections and predicted range, is processed and stored in a variable time delay buffer and processor 85. The acceleration of the axes U and W of the laser pedestal 70 are received by the controller 40 along with the rate of roll G of the axes. Cross-coupling correction factors of the acceleration and rate of roll of the axes are obtained from device 8 2, and the resultant velocity and acceleration factors, G, U, and W are stored in buffer 85. During each sample period, the stored velocity in buffer 85 (A' and B) is combined with the stored position corrections (AU, AW, AG) in a coordinate converter 88 to produce an incremental velocity command, A and B, along

lines

91 and 92 which is equivalent to the position change required to move the laser pedestal 70 to the proper position during the next time interval.

In the foregoing manner, the laser pedestal 70 is positioned over the time of flight interval, taking into account the corrective positions due to the motions of the gun mount during the interval, so that at the end of the interval the laser is directed at the point in space previously predicted by the gun director 80. Additionally, during each sample period the controller 40 determines if any previous projectile delay time has expired and checks the stored fire indicator received from 94 along line 96 corresponding to that projectile. If the time has expired, and the fire indicator was activated, controller 40 emits a fire command signal along line 93 to the laser firing circuit 95.

A laser receiver, not shown, mounted on the target, provides an indication of a hit or a miss of the laser beam thus activated. In systems where laser receivers cannot be mounted on the target, a laser transmit/- receiver device could be utilized wherein the predicted range information could be utilized to gate the laser receiver portion so that a hit/no hit indication could be obtained.

To obtain this evaluation data, a recording camera could be mounted on, or in parallel to, laser pedestal 70. The same outputs of controller 40 as described above may be used to control the parallel camera if it were mounted on a separate pedestal. Obviously, the range information is not needed for the camera, but the laser fire command along line 93 may be used to trigger an indicator within the cameras field of view so that information pertaining to the activation of the laser would be available for post-mission analysis.

FIG. 5 is helpful in illustrating a comparison between the prior art line of sight laser, the delayed position laser of the present invention, and a real gun system. The vertical labels on the left-hand side of FIG. 5 represent the two conditions (A and B) under which a firing sequence might occur for the LOS laser, the firing sequence for the delayed position laser of the present invention, and the firing sequence for a real gun system. The horizontal axis represents time, each block representing an instant in time during which the indicated event may be initiated or performed, as the case may be. All devices are assumed to be mounted independently on their own pedestals. Obviously, in real time, some of these events may occur nearly simultaneously, but for the purposes of illustration, such events are represented by consecutive time frames.

Referring first to the real gun system, the data to be used by the gun director is gathered or smoothed over some period of time T to T The gun director calculates the predicted angle at time T then commands the gun position at time T whereafter the gun fires the projectile at time T]. After the projectile has been fired, there exists a period of time (projectile time of flight) which is unique to each projectile. This time of flight is represented by the time period from T; to T,-. At the expiration of this time interval at time T,-, projectile/target intercept occurs at the point in space previously predicted (assuming no error) by the gun director.

Referring now to the firing sequence for the line of laser, sequences A and B depict two possible conditions under which the LOS laser might be fired. Sequence A begins at the same point in time T, as that of the real gun system. the data gathering period from time T to T may be the same, but the predicted angle and position of the laser is not. Since the LOS laser does not require a lead angle (i.e., it is customarily mounted on or in parallel with, the tracking device), it requires only the data supplied to the tracking pedestal to maintain a direction toward the target. Therefore, at time T and T the LOS laser sequence deviates from the gun sequence completely. Accordingly, when the laser is fired at time T,, even though it may illuminate the target, all that is accomplished is an evaluation of how well the tracking device has followed the target. With respect to sequence B, if the laser is fired so that it illuminates the point in space where the protectile would have intercepted the target (this would occur strictly by coincidence, since no projectile time of flight is calculated in the LOs laser scoring technique), it has not used the same data as the gun utilized to establish its position commands. Accordingly, the use of the LOS laser technique results in a performance evaluation of the tracking system only, and does not take into consideration the gun laying and trajectory characteristics of the weapon under test.

The delayed position laser firing sequence according to the present invention performs identically to the real gun system up to and including the positioning of the gun. The same data is utilized for the prediction from time T to T The same predicted angle and gun position is output by the gun director at times T and T Only at time T, does the sequence deviate from that of the real gun system, and that deviation is relatively minor. At time T instead of firing the laser, the technique of the present invention initiates the laser controller 40 (of FIG. 4) which positions the laser during the delay time from T, to T,-, the identical interval of time as the projectile time of flight in the real gun system. Accordingly, at time T,, the laser will be directed at the point in space where the projectile/target intercept will occur. This is the same point in space described above with reference to the real gun system. At time T a laser controller will fire the laser and the beam therefrom will illuminate the intercept point.

Accordingly, it is seen that we have provided a method and apparatus for nondestructively evaluating the performance of a weapon system which takes into account not only the target tracking capability of the system, but also utilizes, on a projectile-to-projectile basis, the ballistic and trajectory information supplied by the director subsystem of the weapon. Since the system of the present invention utilizes the same data used in the actual firing of the weapon, the present technique approximates the performance and operation of the real weapon to a degree heretofore unobtainable. Accordingly, the present invention allows total evaluation of integrated fire control systems under tactical battlefield conditions. It will be understood by those skilled in the an that with the addition of a controller to the laser scoring systems presently in use, the present invention may be utilized to evaluate a wide range of weapons from anti-aircraft artillery systems to selfcontained mobile missile systems, that is, any type of weapon that requires prediction or guidance to intercept its intended target.

It will be appreciated by one skilled in the art that, with the exception of gun vibration and perturbation of the flight path of each individual projectile by the environment, the real gun system has been totally simulated by the technique and apparatus of the present invention on a projectile-to-projectile basis. The target has been allowed the same amount of time as it would have against a real gun to maneuver or evade the weapon during the projectile time of flight. In some cases where a relatively long time of flight and a highly maneuverable target are involved, this time factor could be of great significance in the tactical evaluation of a weapon system. Prior art scoring systems take the foregoing into account only on a general basis during postmission processing and analysis. It is also apparent that the perturbation of the flight path of each projectile could be successfully simulated by inserting a random error into the positioning servo for each projectile; accordingly, the effects of the environment and the gun vibration on the projectile path can be made to approach those of the real weapon.

We wish it to be understood that we do not desire to be limited to the exact details of construction shown and described, for obvious modifications can be made by a person skilled in the art. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. Apparatus for nondestructively evaluating the performance of a weapon system, which comprises:

weapon means for launching a projectile intended to intercept a moving target;

tracking means for obtaining position and range data of said target; first control means responsive to said data for computing the lead angle and predicted range of said target to define a point in space where said projectile, if then launched, will intercept said target;

laser means for illuminating said point in space with a laser beam; and

laser control means responsive to said first control means for positioning said laser means at said point in space and for activating said laser means at the end of a predetermined time interval.

2. The apparatus for nondestructively evaluating the performance of a weapon system according to claim 1, further comprising servo means responsive to said first control means for positioning said weapon means such that said projectile, if then fired, will pass through said point in space at the end of said predetermined time interval.

3. The apparatus for nondestructively evaluating the performance of a weapon system according to claim 2, wherein said predetermined time interval corresponds to the time of flight of said projectile from said weapon means to said point in space.

4. The apparatus for nondestructively evaluating the performance of a weapon system according to claim 1, further comprising means for recording information as to whether or not said laser beam has struck said target at said point in space.

5. The apparatus for nondestructively evaluating the performance of a weapon system according to claim 3, further comprising first and second pedestal means for mounting said weapon means and said laser means, respectively, said first pedestal means being responsive to said servo means and said second pedestal means being responsive to said laser control means whereby said second pedestal means is activated during said predetermined time interval; and a third pedestal means for mounting said tracking means.

6. The apparatus for nondestructively evaluating the performance of a weapon system according to claim 5, wherein said first control means comprises gun director means for accepting information from an angle tracker and a range tracker which comprise said tracking means, said gun director means providing lead angle offset information to said laser control means.

7. The apparatus for nondestructively evaluating the performance of a weapon system according to claim 6, wherein said laser control means comprises variable time delay buffer and processor means responsive to said predicted range and time of flight information from said gun director means for generating incremental velocity commands to said second pedestal means, which velocity commands correspond to the position change required to move said second pedestal means to the proper position during said predetermined time interval.

8. The apparatus for nondestructively evaluating the performance of a weapon system according to claim 4, wherein said information recording means includes a laser receiver mounted on said moving target.

9. The apparatus for nondestructively evaluating the performance of a weapon system according to claim 4, wherein said information recording means includes a laser transceiver as comprising said laser means, and means for gating said transceiver in response to said predicted range data from said first control means.

10. In a system which includes weapon means for launching a projectile intended to intercept a moving target, means for tracking the target, laser means, and means for controlling said weapon means and said laser means in response to said tracking means, a method for nondestructively evaluating the performance of said system which comprises the steps of;

feeding position and range data of said target obtained by said tracking means to said control means;

computing the predicted lead angle and range by means of said control means which defines the point in space where said projectile will intercept said target if then fired;

positioning said weapon means in response to said computed lead angle and range such that if said weapon means is then fired, said projectile will pass through said point in space a predetermined time of flight of said projectile thereafter;

positioning said laser means during said predetermined time such that at the end of said predetermined time said laser means is aimed at said point in space;

activating said laser means by said control means at the end of said predetermined time such that said laser means emits a beam which illuminates said point in space; and

recording information as to Whether said laser beam has or has not struck said target at said point in space whereby the operation of said tracking means, said weapon means and said control means may be concommitantly evaluated.

Claims

1. Apparatus for nondestructively evaluating the performance of a weapon system, whiCh comprises: weapon means for launching a projectile intended to intercept a moving target; tracking means for obtaining position and range data of said target; first control means responsive to said data for computing the lead angle and predicted range of said target to define a point in space where said projectile, if then launched, will intercept said target; laser means for illuminating said point in space with a laser beam; and laser control means responsive to said first control means for positioning said laser means at said point in space and for activating said laser means at the end of a predetermined time interval.

10. In a system which includes weapon means for launching a projectile intended to intercept a moving target, means for tracking the target, laser means, and means for controlling said weapon means and said laser means in response to said tracking means, a method for nondestructively evaluating the performance of said system which comprises the steps of: feeding position and range data of said target obtained by said tracking means to said control means; computing the predicted lead angle and range by means of said control means which defines the point in space where said projectile will intercept said target if then fired; positioning said weapon means in response to said computed lead angle and range such that if said weapon means is then fired, said projectile will pass through said point in space a predetermined time of flight of said projectile thereafter; positioning said laser means during said predetermined time such that at the end of said predetermined time said laser means is aimed at said point in space; activating said laser means by said control means at the end of said predetermined time such that said laser means emits a beam which illuminates said point in space; and recording information as to whether said laser beam has or has not struck said target at said point in space whereby the operation of said tracking means, said weapon means and said control means may be concommitantly evaluated.