There is however an additional question. I was going through a news article which states the accuracy of Agni V as 0.001 degrees per hour. Well there is either something wrong with this number or something wrong with my math or tan function of Google is messed up.
tan(.001 / 3) x 5000 = 1.66666673 km as the error at the end of 20 minutes. Assuming the missile travels for 20 minutes the accuracy of the missile will be .001/3 degrees in 20 minutes.
If this is indeed the right math,
tan(.00001 / 3) x 5 000 = 0.0166666667 km or 16 meters.
tan (.000001/3) x 5000 = 0.00166666667 km or 1.6 meters accuracy.
These are significant mistakes by the journalist if my math is correct. Also the significance of the figures brandished are important for ASAT capability which is being touted. The chinese ASAT shot down a target with a minimum planar dimension of 1.4 meters. Assuming travel time of 1/6th of the Agni V test for the ASAT kinetic kill to reach 1000k SSO orbit at it's max.
tan(.00001 / 6) x 1 000 = 0.00166666667 or 1.6 meters of accuracy is afforded by this figure. So did the journalist just swallow two zeros? Was this the signal being sent out to China. Our missiles are as good as your ASAT test if not better. This possibly also hints at Chinese guidance systems being at par with ours. Forum members please feel free to correct me. I am new here and if there are any transgressions let me know.
Well the other way to make the numbers add up is by using cosine to arrive at the actual distance traveled along the hypotenuse. The difference between the distance it was supposed to travel and distance it traveled gives the final figure.
5 000 - (cos(.001 / 3) x 5 000) = 0.000277777775 km or 2.7 meters.
1 000 - (cos(.001 / 3) x 1 000) = 5.5555555 Ãâ 10-5 km or less than a meter.
15 000 - (cos(.001) x 15 000) = 0.00749999937 km or 7.4 meters at 15000 km assuming it takes an hour to reach there which isn't a realistic time but a crude approximation with lots of extra time.
If I use Cosine, the chinese missile has an accuracy of at least (giving them the benefit of doubt to score an accurate hit on the 1.4 meter minimum cross section satellite in SSO).
1000 -(cos (.01/6) x 1000 ) = 0.00138888857 meters for an ASAT kinetic kill.
Their minimum CEP at 5000, 10000 and 15000 km being
5 000 - (cos(.01 / 3) x 5 000) = 0.0277777521 KM or 27.7 meters
10 000 - (cos(.01 / 2) x 10 000) = 0.12499974 KM or 124.9 meters
15 000 - (cos(.01 / 2) x 15 000) = 0.187499609 KM or 187.5 meters
How do we account for this variation between tan and cosine. In case of cosine it's quiet clear the accuracy needed in ASAT hits is much much lower than the one quoted in Indian media of 0.001. It's my second post on the forum so please be a little gentle on me if there are errors or omissions.
tan(.001 / 3) x 5000 = 1.66666673 km as the error at the end of 20 minutes. Assuming the missile travels for 20 minutes the accuracy of the missile will be .001/3 degrees in 20 minutes.
If this is indeed the right math,
tan(.00001 / 3) x 5 000 = 0.0166666667 km or 16 meters.
tan (.000001/3) x 5000 = 0.00166666667 km or 1.6 meters accuracy.
These are significant mistakes by the journalist if my math is correct. Also the significance of the figures brandished are important for ASAT capability which is being touted. The chinese ASAT shot down a target with a minimum planar dimension of 1.4 meters. Assuming travel time of 1/6th of the Agni V test for the ASAT kinetic kill to reach 1000k SSO orbit at it's max.
tan(.00001 / 6) x 1 000 = 0.00166666667 or 1.6 meters of accuracy is afforded by this figure. So did the journalist just swallow two zeros? Was this the signal being sent out to China. Our missiles are as good as your ASAT test if not better. This possibly also hints at Chinese guidance systems being at par with ours. Forum members please feel free to correct me. I am new here and if there are any transgressions let me know.
Well the other way to make the numbers add up is by using cosine to arrive at the actual distance traveled along the hypotenuse. The difference between the distance it was supposed to travel and distance it traveled gives the final figure.
5 000 - (cos(.001 / 3) x 5 000) = 0.000277777775 km or 2.7 meters.
1 000 - (cos(.001 / 3) x 1 000) = 5.5555555 Ãâ 10-5 km or less than a meter.
15 000 - (cos(.001) x 15 000) = 0.00749999937 km or 7.4 meters at 15000 km assuming it takes an hour to reach there which isn't a realistic time but a crude approximation with lots of extra time.
If I use Cosine, the chinese missile has an accuracy of at least (giving them the benefit of doubt to score an accurate hit on the 1.4 meter minimum cross section satellite in SSO).
1000 -(cos (.01/6) x 1000 ) = 0.00138888857 meters for an ASAT kinetic kill.
Their minimum CEP at 5000, 10000 and 15000 km being
5 000 - (cos(.01 / 3) x 5 000) = 0.0277777521 KM or 27.7 meters
10 000 - (cos(.01 / 2) x 10 000) = 0.12499974 KM or 124.9 meters
15 000 - (cos(.01 / 2) x 15 000) = 0.187499609 KM or 187.5 meters
How do we account for this variation between tan and cosine. In case of cosine it's quiet clear the accuracy needed in ASAT hits is much much lower than the one quoted in Indian media of 0.001. It's my second post on the forum so please be a little gentle on me if there are errors or omissions.