Maneuverable reentry vehicle


The Maneuverable Reentry Vehicle is a type of ballistic missile whose warhead is capable of autonomously tracking ground targets. It often requires some terminal active homing guidance to make sure the missile does not miss the target, because of the frequent trajectory shifts. Refer to atmospheric reentry.
There are several types, the examples of which include:
Advanced Maneuverable Reentry Vehicle was a prototype MARV built by McDonnell-Douglas Corp. Four AMaRVs were made and represented a significant leap in Reentry Vehicle sophistication. Three of the AMaRVs were launched by Minuteman-1 ICBMs on 20 December 1979, 8 October 1980 and 4 October 1981. AMaRV had an entry mass of approximately 470 kg, a nose radius of 2.34 cm, a forward frustum half-angle of 10.4°, an inter-frustum radius of 14.6 cm, aft frustum half angle of 6°, and an axial length of 2.079 meters. No accurate diagram or picture of AMaRV has ever appeared in the open literature. However, a schematic sketch of an AMaRV-like vehicle along with trajectory plots showing hairpin turns has been published.
AMaRV's attitude was controlled through a split body flap along with two yaw flaps mounted on the vehicle's sides. Hydraulic actuation was used for controlling the flaps. AMaRV was guided by a fully autonomous navigation system designed for evading anti-ballistic missile interception.