Novel Aiming Method for Spin-Stabilized Projectiles with a Course Correction Fuze Actuated by Fixed Canards

Abstract

Spin-stabilized projectiles with course correction fuzes actuated by fixed canards have the problem of great coupling in both the normal and lateral directions due to intensive gyroscopic effects, which leads to inconsistent maneuverability in different directions. Due to the limited correction ability, which results from the miniaturization of the fuze and fixed canards, a target-aiming method is proposed here to make full use of the correction ability of the canards. From analysis on how the canards work and building an angular motion model, the correction characteristics of a spinning projectile with fixed canards have been studied, and the inconsistent maneuverability in different directions of the projectile has been explained and used to help establish the proposed target aiming method. Hardware-in-the-loop simulation based on a 155 mm howitzer shows that when the correction ability of fixed canards is unchanged, the proposed method can improve the striking accuracy by more than 20% when compared to the traditional method.