The Joint Combat Assessment Team (JCAT) would like to recognize Mr. Ron Buhrman, who retired last year after 37 years of civil service with the Air Force. Ron was the sole developer of the VulnView/Combat Assessment Tool (CAT) and its predecessors for more than 20 years. VulnView/CAT has been used by JCAT since its initial release in 2005 to visualize and evaluate threat engagement with blue aircraft targets. Ron’s expertise in software development, as well as his ability to work collaboratively with both operational users and engineers, has helped shape the digital environment used by JCAT and the aircraft vulnerability community as a whole. JCAT thanks him for his longstanding commitment and service.
With Ron’s retirement, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) Vulnerability Analysis Branch (EZFV) has moved developer responsibilities of the VulnView/CAT software to Booz Allen Hamilton. This transition will ensure that the development of this valuable tool will continue well into the future.
A code uplift to VulnView/CAT was completed in FY24, which brought the tool up to today’s coding standards. This uplift, while not changing the functionality of the tool or the outward-facing graphical user interface, made VulnView/CAT more stable and prepares the tool for further capability advancements. The first of these enhancements is funded by the Joint Aircraft Survivability Program (JASP) to further expand the functionality of the tool and better equip the Warfighter. The project, which is scheduled to be completed in FY25, has three main goals:
- Update CAT to interface with the latest version of the Computation of Vulnerable Area Tool (COVART). This update will provide speed improvements and improved penetration predictions while also addressing current limitations that restrict warhead characterizations.
- Implement support for BRL-CAD target geometry, particularly Bag of Triangle (BOT) geometry. This improvement would effectively expand the JCAT library of available target files without the need to convert BRL-CAD targets to VulnView’s native FASTGEN format.
- Implement multiple usability enhancements requested by JCAT and the larger VulnView user community. EZFV will be working directly with JCAT to define these capabilities. Some of the enhancement features already defined are a touchscreen user interface, a kinetic energy threat (bullets or single fragments) analysis mode, and complex engagement (multiple threat) analysis capabilities.
In short, these efforts will help VulnView/CAT continue to provide the needed capability to the Warfighter for the next 20 years and beyond.
