James Cannon, Age 6811854 Chandler Blvd APT 2, North Hollywood, CA 91607

5590850, Jan 7, 1997

Jun 5, 1995

8/463603

James J. Cannon - Northridge CA
Mark Elkanick - Tucson AZ

Hughes Missile Systems Company - Los Angeles CA

F42B 1501

244 315

Blended missile autopilots for a missile employing direct lift and tail controlled autopilots coupled by way of a blending filter. The blended missile autopilots have movable tails aft of the center of gravity of the missile and side force thrusters or movable canards mounted forward of the center of gravity, and that are controlled using the direct lift and tail-controlled autopilots. Lift is generated from the tails and side force is generated by the thrusters or canards, such that the body of the missile maintains zero angle of attack and generates no lift. The present invention thus combines the fast response of a direct lift autopilot with the high acceleration capability of a body lift autopilot, and blends the two using the blending filter to achieve improved performance.