Use of Commercial Off the Shelf GPS Technology to Solve Guidance Problems with the Improved Tactical Air Launched Decoy (ITALD)

As the capabilities of threat surface-to-air missile systems increased, the US Navy looked to improve upon the performance of the Tactical Air Launched Decoy (TALD), an air launched glider vehicle with switchblade wings designed to resemble attacking aircraft to confuse and saturate enemy air defenses. In the early 1990’s the contractor proposed the Improved Tactical Air Launched Decoy (ITALD), a turbo jet powered air-launched vehicle which tripled the existing range and added a radar altimeter to simulate low level attacks.

In 1998, after several design iterations, the Naval Air Warfare Center at Point Mugu tested the ITALD for suitability in the defense suppression mission and found major deficiencies with the navigation system and product reliability. The contractor resolved the reliability issues; however the navigation system, a simple dead reckoning 2-axis gyro and flight computer, needed improvement. The ITALD navigation system drifted excessively causing the decoy to drift off course and out of field of regard of the intended surface-to-air missile systems.

Incorporating a commercial of the shelf (COTS) global positioning system (GPS) proved to be an effective, expeditious and inexpensive solution to the vehicle’s navigational problems. In 2001, the new ITALD-GPS was tested during five flights with mostly satisfactory results.

The opinions, analysis and conclusions expressed in this thesis are those of the author and have not been officially endorsed by the Department of the Navy, Naval Air Systems Command, or Israeli Military Industries, LTD.