DESIGN AND WIND TUNNEL TESTING OF GUIDANCE PINS FOR SUPERSONIC PROJECTILES

In this paper, the results of a series of experiments funded by DARPA to determine the feasibility of using small actuators to provide directional control for a supersonic projectile are presented. Controlling the flight of the projectile was accomplished by taking advantage of complex shock-boundary layer interactions produced by mechanical devices. One set of wind tunnel tests performed at the Georgia Tech Research Institute characterized the force levels produced by the small actuators on a scale model, while another set of experiments determined the optimum geometry and location of the actuators. The end result of the experiments was to demonstrate that the use of pin based actuators for guidance is a feasible method to control the flight of supersonic munitions.