Cooperative guidance law for target pair to lure two pursuers into collision

A novel cooperative defensive guidance law is presented for a two-on-two engagement. Instead of classical strategies in which evasive maneuvers are performed or additional agents (e.g., defender missiles) are deployed, the target pair lures the pursuing missiles into collision. The optimal cooperative strategy is solved using state-dependent Riccati equation method. Linearized kinematics and arbitrary-order linear adversaries’ dynamics are assumed in the guidance law derivation. Imperfect information is assumed on the relative states and the guidance laws employed by the missile pair. Guidance strategies that the pursuing missiles may employ are assumed to belong to a finite set of linear guidance laws. In addition to the proposed cooperative defensive strategy, a decentralized estimation scheme based on the multiple-model adaptive estimation approach is also presented. Guidance law and estimation performance are demonstrated using nonlinear simulations. Simulation results show the viability of the proposed guidance law and highlight the sensitivity of the guidance law to range measurement accuracy.