Nonlinear Least Squares Estimation in Naval Gun Fire Control

This paper describes a concept for deriving information for gun system calibration from projectile track data. The key element of this concept is a procedure for processing the track data to estimate a set of parameters required in solving the ballistics problem in gun fire control. The procedure extracts estimates of muzzle velocity, meteorological data, and alignment errors from track data collected on projectiles fired by the gun. These estimates are then used in fire control processing to compute a solution of increased accuracy relative to conventional methods. The key feature of this procedure, which has been implemented in Arleigh Burke Class AEGIS destroyers, is a Finite Difference Gauss-Newton technique. From the initial concept formulation through tactical software development and integration into the gun fire control system, the work was performed entirely at The Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, Virginia.