Calculation of warhead reentry angle of attack based on flight test data

The calculation issue of angle of attack at the warhead reentry point is discussed in this paper based on the missile flight test data, to indirectly verify the warhead penetration performance. By analyzing the warhead flight environment and the relationship among several coordinate systems, two equivalent approaches are provided to calculate the warhead angle of attack at the reentry point. The available flight test information is sufficiently utilized in the calculation process, including the telemetry data, the exterior trajectory measurement data, the ballistic design data, etc. The validity of the proposed approaches is demonstrated by the missile flight test data, and the calculation results indicate that the two approaches are absolutely equivalent and the calculated angle of attack is close to theoretically designed one.