The Joint Aircraft Survivability Program

A Rich History, An Ongoing Commitment

For more than a half century, the Joint Aircraft Survivability Program (JASP) has worked to enhance the readiness and effectiveness of U.S. combat air systems. To do this, the organization coordinates the development and improvement of susceptibility and vulnerability reduction technologies and assessment methods throughout the Department of Defense (DoD); facilitates technology development and transitioning to U.S. weapon systems; coordinates the collection of combat damage information; and supports the creation and use of relevant modeling and simulation (M&S) tools.

Our Beginning

A Discipline Born in Battle

The mission of JASP is rooted in the battlefields of Vietnam.  In the late 1960s, a small group of U.S. military engineering leaders became concerned about the heavy loss rates of U.S. combat aircraft occurring in the conflict and resolved to do something about them.  The result of their collective pioneering efforts was the emergence of a new discipline of engineering research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E)—the discipline of aircraft survivability.

Joint Technical Coordinating Group on Aircraft Survivability (JTCG/AS) Logo
Survivability/Vulnerability Information Analysis Center (SURVIAC) Logo

Our Growth

A Legacy of Innovation and Excellence

Today’s JASP is the offspring of numerous predecessor organizations, charters, and efforts.  In 1971, the Joint Technical Coordinating Group on Aircraft Survivability (JTCG/AS) was chartered by the Joint Logistics Commanders (JLC) to address the aforementioned high aircraft losses in Southeast Asia.  The charter initially focused on promoting susceptibility reduction—those design characteristics that make an aircraft harder to detect—and vulnerability reduction—those design characteristics that give an aircraft the ability to withstand a hit if detected.  Later, JTCG/AS responsibilities were expanded to also include developing and conducting M&S for survivability assessment and establishing aircraft survivability as a formal design discipline.

As a coordinating group, the JTCG/AS also became a unique forum for education and technical information interchange between the Services, as they pursued technologies and methodologies to advance the state of the art for survivable aeronautical systems.

In 1984, the JTCG/AS partnered with the Joint Technical Coordinating Group for Munitions Effectiveness (JTCG/ME) to establish the Survivability/Vulnerability Information Analysis Center (SURVIAC)—which would later become part of the Defense Systems Information Analysis Center (DSIAC).  The purpose of SURVIAC was to serve as a repository for survivability/lethality and combat data.  The Joint Live Fire (JLF) Program was also started during this time to address a requirement from the Office of the Secretary of Defense for more realistic vulnerability testing.

In 1985, the JLC formed the Joint Aeronautical Commanders Group (JACG) and assigned it line oversight responsibility for the JTCG/AS.  In addition, funding for the JTCG/AS, which had previously come from the Services, was consolidated under what is now DOT&E.

Then, in January of 2003, the JACG signed a new charter that replaced the JTCG/AS with the Joint Aircraft Survivability Program Office (JASPO).  Under JASPO, the JTCG/AS charter was expanded to include JCAT (formerly the Joint Service Air Defense Lethality Team), the JLF (Air, Land, and Sea) Programs, as well as additional missions.

Finally, in 2005, JASP was rechartered by the Service System Commands, the U.S. Navy Naval Air Systems Command, the U.S. Air Force Aeronautical Systems Center, and the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command to continue its important survivability RDT&E efforts.

CH-53K GTV Article at NAWCWD

Our Services

Many Activities, One Mission

To support our three focus areas—aircraft threat detection and countermeasures, aircraft survivability test and evaluation, and aircraft force protection—JASP is regularly involved in:

A US Air Force (USAF) pilot sits in the cockpit of his F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft as he, patrols the no fly zone over Southern Iraq, in support of Operation SOUTHERN WATCH.

Our Promise

An Ongoing Commitment to the Warfighter

In short, though many of today’s high-tech battlefield threats and technologies look much different than those of 50 years ago, the core JASP mission is still the same.  The organization remains committed to continuing the rich survivability legacy it has inherited, to continuing to grow and support the aircraft survivability discipline and community, and—most importantly—to continuing to provide America’s Warfighters with the safest, most effective aircraft possible.

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