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Increasing relative angular velocity for air combat in zero gravity

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Abstract

Angular velocity plays a critical role in determining the outcome of a close-range aerial engagement between two identical fighter aircraft pitching at full deflection. In a zero gravity environment, a pursuer may exploit its ability to roll to increase its relative angular velocity against a pitching opponent. In this paper, we present a repeatable maneuver for an unmanned fighter aircraft that increases its relative angular velocity. Additionally, we provide maneuvers for aligning an aircraft’s trajectory with a desired target trajectory.

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Abbreviations

t :

Time (s)

p :

The roll rate of our aircraft (rad/s)

q :

The pitch rate of our aircraft (rad/s)

y :

The amount of pitch rate we give up (instantaneously) at the start of our advantage maneuver (rad/s)

m :

Mass of our aircraft (kg)

v :

Speed of our aircraft (m/s)

\(v_\mathrm{f}\) :

Speed of air hitting the wing in the normal direction, caused by rolling (m/s)

r :

Radius of our turn circle (m)

\(F_\mathrm{c}\) :

Centripetal force (lift) acting on our aircraft (\(\hbox {kg}\,\hbox {ms}^{-2}\))

I :

Moment of inertia of our aircraft about the roll axis (\(\hbox {kg}\,\hbox {m}^2\))

\(\tau \) :

Torque generated from wings (N m/rad)

W :

Wingspan of our aircraft (m)

\(W_\mathrm{d}\) :

Width of a wing. Used to approximate drag (m)

\(C_\mathrm{d}\) :

Drag coefficient of our aircraft about the roll axis (dimensionless)

\(C_{\tau }\) :

Drag coefficient of torque drag from rolling the aircraft (dimensionless)

\(\rho \) :

Air density (\(\hbox {kg}\,\hbox {m}^{-3}\))

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

    Bill Deng

  2. University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

    Timothy Collier

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  1. Bill Deng
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  2. Timothy Collier
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Correspondence to Bill Deng.

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Deng, B., Collier, T. Increasing relative angular velocity for air combat in zero gravity. AS 2, 83–95 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42401-019-00030-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42401-019-00030-0

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