Electrostatic passive proximity fuzing system

Abstract

A proximity fuzing system for missile warhead utilizes an electrostatic probe to detect the electric field inherently associated with an airborne target. The probe plates are oriented perpendicular to the missile longitudinal axis and are short circuit loaded to develop a probe current signal whose initial slope is analyzed to qualify the target being engaged on a near-miss trajectory as a valid target and whose first zero current crossing is utilized as a trigger point for detonating the missile warhead before the missiles reaches a position of minimum miss-distance relative to the target.