# Rotation matrix with limited rotation speed

I'm working on a flight-simulator type program, and I'm attempting to make elements (e.g. missiles) that lock-onto and track a target. There are plenty of rotation matrix implementations online that deal with rotating a vector to face another vector. Here's the one I've been using from Wikipedia: $$\mathbf R = \mathbf I + (\sin\theta)\mathbf {\hat K} + (1-\cos\theta)\mathbf {\hat K}^2$$ where $$\theta$$ is the angle between the two vectors and $$\mathbf {\hat K}$$ is the cross product matrix built from the unit vector $$\mathbf {\hat k}$$ around which to rotate: $$\mathbf {\hat K} = \begin{bmatrix}0 & -k_z & k_y \\ k_z & 0 & -k_x \\ -k_y & k_x & 0\end{bmatrix}$$ Since I compute $$\mathbf k$$ using the cross product of my target current heading $$\mathbf {\hat v}$$ and the target vector $$\mathbf {\hat t}$$, it's length is already equal to $$\sin\theta$$. Computing the cross product matrix from before without normalizing $$\mathbf k$$ gives: $$\mathbf K = (\sin\theta)\mathbf {\hat K}$$. This simplifies the first formula to: $$\mathbf R = \mathbf I + \mathbf K + \mathbf K^2/(1+\cos\theta)$$ This formula works great in addition to being ridiculously sexy.

Now, here's my issue:

The formulas above work fantastically, but they "yank" the trackers around instantly, which is a little jarring, and not particularly realistic in a flight-sim. To combat this I'm attempting to set a limit on the rotation speed. I currently find $$\sin$$ and $$\cos$$ using: $$\sin\theta = \vert \mathbf {\hat v} \times \mathbf {\hat t} \vert$$ $$\cos\theta = \vert \mathbf {\hat v} \cdot \mathbf {\hat t} \vert$$ Then I check to see if $$\cos\theta > \cos\theta_{max}$$ and if it is, I have to recompute $$\cos\theta = \cos\theta_{max}$$ as well as $$\sin\theta = \sin\theta_{max}$$. Additionally, I then have to normalize $$\mathbf k$$ and use the first rotation equation. It works, but it's certainly not as elegant as the simplified equation.

My question is this:

Am I missing anything that would make this formula simpler (and faster)? Is there an easier way to compute a rotation matrix with a limited rotation speed than this?

For a natural effect, one needs to look at the physics of rotating an object (such as a missile). The rotational inertia law would be $$I\ddot{\theta}=\tau$$, so the problem of starting from an angle of $$0$$ to an angle $$\theta_0$$ is achieved by a quadratic formula $$\theta(t)=\theta_0 f(t),\qquad f(t)=\begin{cases}2t^2 & 0
In practice a similar effect is achieved by $$f(t)=t^2(3-2t).$$ The comment mentions Slerp but that needs to compute three sine values at each step.