Patent ID: 7400289

Claim:
A method for directing a weapon toward a boosting missile, said method comprising the steps of: sensing said boosting missile with an infrared sensor to thereby generate an infrared signature representing the boosting missile, said boosting missile having a hardbody; determining from said infrared signature the infrared centroid; illuminating said boosting missile with a radar system to thereby generate a radar cross-section representing the boosting missile; determining from said radar cross-section the radar cross-section of the hardbody of said boosting missile and the radar cross-section of the plume of said boosting missile; determining from said radar cross-section of the hardbody and the radar cross-section of the plume the radar cross-section centroids of each; processing said centroids to determine the location of said hardbody relative to said infrared centroid; and directing said weapon toward said hardbody of said boosting missile based on the location of said hardbody relative to said infrared centroid and said radar cross-section centroids.