EFFECT OF ROLL AUTOPILOT ON BALLISTIC FLIGHT OF A GUIDED AMMUNITION

The Vulcano 155 Guided Long Range is a guided, aerodynamically stabilized, sub-caliber ammunition with a multi-role capability, able to be equipped with three different fuzes (i.e. RF, SAL and FAR-IR). A particular lateral deflection of V155GLR was recorded when verifying a new guiding mode in which the ammunition is in ballistic flight. By in depth analyzing this behavior, it was observed that contrary to a proper ballistic ammunition (e.g. V155BER), the V155GLR has a different lateral deflection. An investigation was done in order to assess the main cause of this peculiar effect. The analysis ends with finding the roll rate autopilot as the major responsible of this effect. This paper shows the results obtained in the past test campaigns in the Alkantpan Proving Ground (APG) South Africa, the effect of either switching on or switching off the autopilot, and the effect of the order of magnitude of the controlled roll rate.