The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 20, 2019
Filed:
Mar. 17, 2017
Lockheed Martin Corporation, Bethesda, MD (US);
Michael Levin, Half Moon Bay, CA (US);
Jacob R. Boettcher, Half Moon Bay, CA (US);
John Cromie, Menlo Park, CA (US);
Douglas Discher, Redwood City, CA (US);
Yu Gyone Hwee, Fremont, CA (US);
Nathan Larry Johnson, San Jose, CA (US);
Robert Kinser, Redwood City, CA (US);
Leo Laux, Half Moon Bay, CA (US);
Lockheed Martin Corporation, Bethesda, MD (US);
Abstract
A method and concept for employing a T-sin-alpha kill vehicle with energy flexibility is disclosed. The energy flexibility method applies divert pulses at multiple phases of the kill vehicle flight time and allows for range extension to increase the kill vehicle coverage of targets outside the normal reach, reaction to target updates, removal of navigation error, and homing divert to intercept the target. Each of these capabilities is essential to the successful intercept of exo-atmospheric ballistic targets in their midcourse phase of flight. A flight vehicle includes a main body, a number of attitude control mechanisms, a control unit, a divert system, a sensor unit, and an attitude control system. The divert system provides acceleration of the flight vehicle in a desired direction. The sensor unit tracks a target along a line of sight (LOS) of the sensor unit. The attitude control system maintains an orientation of the main body.