A AAGW Air-to-Air Guided Weapon, a dogfight weapon. ACWS Automatic Command to Line of Sight. Active homing Missiles Ca1TY a power source to illuminate the target. Actuator A device, either linear or rotary, for moving the fInS or jetavator of a missile. Can be hydraulic, pneumatic (hot or cold gas) or electrical. Aerodynamic centre The point on lifting surface about which there is no change in overturning moment with change in lift. Aerofoil section . The crosssectional shape of a wing designed to produce lift but little drag. AHGW Anti-Helicopter GW. Airframe The components which make up the structure of the missile including wings and control surfaces. AtCM Air Launched Cruise Missile. AOA Area of Authority. ARM Anti-Radar Missile. ASGWAir to-Surface Guided Weapons. ASPJ Airborne Self Protection Jammer. ATGW Anti-Tank Guided Weapon. Autopilot There is no universally agreed definition of an autopilot, but usually it is understood to mean a system for controlling the flight path of a missile, either by moving aerodynamic surfaces or by thrust vector control. Accelerometers and gyroscopes are used to measure the actual flight path through electronic circuitry. The whole makes a closed loop system. (Not all missiles use autopilots.) Autopilot -Lateral autopilot An autopilot for controlling the lateral acceleration or g of a missile. A cartesian missile, if it uses an autopilot at all, would usually use two: one for controlling the g in the pitch plane and another for controlling the g in the yaw plane. AUW All-Up Weight, AWACS Airborne Warning and Control System.B Ballistic missile Missile which follows a near ballistic or free fall path. Ballistic trajectory Path followed by a body moving under gravity only. Bar Pressure unit approximately equal to atmospheric pressure at sea level. Beacon Flare, flash tube, or radio transmitter at the rear of a missile. Beetle tank An early Gennan guided weapon in the fonn of a crawling bomb. Bipropellant SeDarate fuel and oxidant ( oxidiser). Black Chaff Chaff optimised to absorb EMR. Blast A destructive wave produced in the surrounding atmosphere by anExplosion or detonation. The blast includes a shock front,high pressure gas behind the shock front and a verification following the high pressure. BMEWS Ballistic Missile Early Warning System. BombletA small container carrying its own complete initiation system. Boost coast A single motor missile unpowered for most of its flight. Boost sustain A missile with two stage propulsion. Essential for TVC. Boundary layer The layer of air close to the surface of the missile in which shear stresses are important. Bypass duct An annular passage surrounding the core of a turbine aeroengine; a portion of the air ingested passes through this duct, by passing the engine core. C C Velocity of light: 3 x lO8m per sec; Canard A missile configuration in which the control surfaces are positioned forward of the main lifting surfaces. Cartesian control A system of guidance/control in which steering signals are produced by the guidance system and implemented by the control system in an up-down, leftright manner. Casebonded charge A propellant charge which is formed in and bonded (with adhesive) to the motor case. Centre of pressure The point through which an aerodynamic load must act to provide the moment which it causes. Chaff Also called window. Thin strip of metal-coated plastic dispersed in bundles to decoy radar. Characteristic velocity The ratio of the product of chamber (combustor) pressure and nozzle throat area and propellant mass flow rate.Choking The phenomenon of the maximum mass flow which may pass through a nozzle for given upstream conditions. Cigarette burner A solid propellant configuration in which the propellant burns longitudinally at an end face. Circus Number of jamming aircraft on a race track. CL Command link. The communication channel between guidance computer and missile. CLGP Cannon Launched Guided Projectile. USA term for GLOP. CLOS Command to Line of Sight Guidance. Closed Loop System Negative feedback system in which the output automatically aligns itself with the demanded input by making the error become zero. COLOS Command Off the Line of Sight. Command guidance . A form of guidance in which the guidance computer is separated from the missile.Command link WIre, optical fibre, radio beam or laser beam command charmel to missile. Composite A type of heterogeneous propellant composed primarily of ammonium perchlorate as oxidant and a polyrnerisable binder as fuel. Compression The opposite of an expansion. Continuous rod A guided missile warhead configuration consisting of a series ofsteel rods longitudinally encasing an explosive charge. The rods are joined at alternate ends and create an expanding hoop on warhead detonation. CRP , Control and Reporting System. Cryogenic Description sometirnes applied to an exceptionally low temperature Liquefied gas. Cruise missile A missile which flie