Optimal cooperative pursuit and evasion strategies against a homing missile

Optimal-control-based cooperative evasion and pursuit strategies are derived for an aircraft and its defending missile. The aircraft-defending missile team cooperates in actively protecting the aircraft from a homing missile. The cooperative strategies are derived assuming that the incoming homing missile is using a known linear guidance law. Linearized kinematics, arbitrary-order linear adversaries' dynamics, and perfect information are also assumed. Specific limiting cases are analyzed in which the attacking missile uses proportional navigation, augmented proportional navigation, or optimal guidance. The optimal one-on-one, noncooperative, aircraft evasion strategies from a missile using such guidance laws are also derived. For adversaries with first-order dynamics it is shown that depending on the initial conditions, and in contrast to the optimal one-on-one evasion strategy, the optimal cooperative target maneuver is either constant or arbitrary. These types of maneuvers are also the optimal ones for the defender missile. Simulation results confirm the usefulness and advantages of cooperation. Specifically, it is shown how the target can lure in the attacker, allowing its defender to intercept the attacking missile even in scenarios in which the defender's maneuverability is at a disadvantage compared with the attacking missile.