MONTE CARLO SIMULATION OF MISSILE TRAJECTORIES DISPERSION DUE TO IMPERFECTLY MANUFACTURED WARHEAD.

The missile accuracy strongly depends on the quality of production. It is necessary to find the right optimum between the criterion of cost and the criterion of precision. In this paper, the warhead manufacturing error is simulated using the Monte Carlo method, treated as nondeterministic disturbance, and dispersed according to suitable axisymmetric distribution. A link is proposed between the missile 3D CAD model, a 6DOF model of its flight, and the statistical analysis of trajectories dispersion parameters. The presented method is an excerpt from a broader analysis that reveals statistically significant differences between the consequences of individual errors, especially their impact on missile accuracy. By imposing especially strict tolerances in the critical stages of production, it is possible to significantly improve the efficiency of the missile, with a minimal increase in the final product cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]