Missile seeker system and method

Abstract

A seeker system for a missile having a housing with a predetermined field-of-regard the system including an image detector adapted to be fixedly mounted to the housing having a predetermined number of pixels, an optical system fixedly mounted to the housing for scanning said predetermined field-of-regard ahead of the nose for focusing images in successive image frames onto the image detector, an image reader for reading image data from the image detector corresponding to each of the successive image frames, a display for displaying the image data of the successive image frames, a selector for selecting a displayed target from the field-of-regard, a comparator for comparing the image data of successive image frames, and a tracker for tracking the selected target by setting a course of the missile in a direction toward the target, a discriminator responsive to the compared frames for discriminating between a first deviation below a predetermined amount and a second deviation above the predetermined amount, a stabilizer responsive to the first deviation for stabilizing the display of the images, and a missile controller responsive to the second deviation for repositioning the missile to a desired course.