Air Drag Effects on the Missile Trajectories

The equations of motion of a missile under the air drag effects are constructed. The modified TD88 is surveyed. Using Lagrange's planetary equations in Gauss form, the perturbations, due to the air drag in the orbital elements, are computed between the eccentric anomalies of the burn out and the reentry points [Ebo,2π−Ebo], respectively. The range equation is expressed as an infinite series in terms of the eccentricity e and the eccentric anomaly E. The different errors in the missile-free range due to the drag perturbations in the missile trajectory are obtained.