This thesis examines the dispute that arose between the United States and key European members of NATO (Britain, West Germany and France) over the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). The debate is traced from its inception on March 23, 1983, when Reagan announced his decision to accelerate ballistic missile defence research, to the eclipse of SDI as a major source of transatlantic and international controversy when Presidents Reagan and Gorbachev signed the INF Treaty in December 1987. The transatlantic SDI debate is investigated to determine: (1) the underlying cause, or reasons, for the controversy, (2) how the Alliance managed the differences which arose, and (3) how East-West relations affected the manner in which the controversy was handled. This study includes analysis of past transatlantic controversies about military strategy; reasons why Reagan launched SDI as a unilateral programme; the nature and reasons for West European opposition to SDI; how compromises over SDI were sought and effected (or rejected) between the U.S. and Britain, West Germany and France; the role of the ATBM debate in the SDI controversy; and the significance of the Reykjavik summit and the INF treaty in the SDI debate. Three main and related conclusions emerge from this study. First, that differing conceptions of what constituted a credible nuclear strategy and a stable nuclear regime, rather than the issue of BMD deployment, was the primary cause of the SDI controversy. Second, that in managing the SDI dispute, the Alliance ignored the salience of differing conceptions of strategy and sought agreement on the terms of SDI research in order to maintain NATO unity. And third, that contrary to what the literature on alliances posits, the improvement in East-West relations toward the end of the SDI debate increased rather than decreased NATO unity.

This research investigates the necessary components to design cooperative guidance strategies for area air defense applications, as a part of a project supported by UK MoD and French DGA MCM-ITP (Materials and Components for Missile - Innovation and Technology Partnership) programme. The main considerations in developing the cooperative guidance scheme are the uncertainty of the target manoeuvre and the zone defence concept. For the interception of unpredictable targets before they reach any asset in the defended area, Earliest Intercept Geometry (EIG) and Intercept Geometry (IG) are introduced; EIG is analytically obtained and IG is numerically computed in consideration of physical constraints of the missile and target. Then, two mid course guidance laws are proposed using the geometries, termed the Earliest Intercept Geometry Guidance Law (EIGGL) and Intercept Geometry Guidance Law (IGGL). Since the EIG or IG represents a capture zone of the missile, the defended assets can be protected if the guidance law guarantees no overlapping between the geometry (EIG or IG) and the defended area. In many-on-many engagement scenarios, it is clear that the performance of the guidance scheme depends on the target allocation policy, thus an optimal target allocation algorithm is designed using the EIG and IG to maximize the reachability and safety margin. Multiple co-existing hypotheses about future target trajectory in the mid course and homing phase result in an initial angular di erence between actual flight path and the flight path demanded by the homing guidance law at handover, termed the heading error. Even if a hypothesis of future target trajectory is common to mid course and homing guidance laws, heading error can be caused by errors in uplink data because of radar/launcher misalignment, tracker lag, radar measurement error etc. Since this error might result in an abrupt change of the missile acceleration, it is undesirable. In order to resolve this problem, an optimal homing guidance law is developed by introducing a second order polynomial function into the cost function of the guidance problem. The performance of the optimal guidance law heavily depends on the accuracy of the time-to-go estimates. Because the optimal guidance laws are used in the calculation of the IG and the terminal homing guidance, a time-togo estimation algorithm is also proposed. The performance of each algorithm is demonstrated using simple numerical examples. Furthermore, the overall performance of the cooperative guidance algorithm is verified using scenarios in naval and ground context and a Simulink Common Model (CM). For the algorithm test and development, these scenarios and CM have been shared between partners and have evolved during the project. Future work within this research area is discussed further in the last chapter of this thesis, along with other applications for the cooperative guidance scheme ii

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This thesis is concerned with fire control prediction schemes for tanks employed in a defensive role against moving targets. The problem is considered in three parts: the determination of likely target movement patterns in an operational setting; the assessment and modelling of human operator response to those motions; and the utilisation of this response in optimal prediction schemes. In the first part the results from war games, tactical exercises and field trials are collated, and a method is devised for generating test target tracks for human operator study and prediction scheme evaluation. In the second part previous approaches to operator modelling are reviewed, laboratory experiments are described and a mathematical model of human response is developed. In the third part the general statistical properties of predictors are examined, a new class of predictive algorithm called the 'threshold' algorithm is devised, and this type of algorithm is then evaluated using the results of the previous two parts. The thesis ends with some consideration of further research requirements or possibilities, and of the steps needed to validate the results obtained so far.