Modeling and control of variable-mass flight vehicle

Wire-guided missiles in their simplest form are extremely complicated mechanical systems. This is owed to the continuous variations in operating flight conditions and system mass as a consequence of fuel consumption and wire spooling. Thus, modeling and control of such missiles are challenging tasks. The present paper aims to develop a mathematical model for the missile that takes into consideration variations in mass and aerodynamic coefficients. A linearized control and guidance system using rate gyro flight control system is developed to achieve target interception with minimum deviation.