Welcome to another issue, and another year, of the Aircraft Survivability journal (ASJ). This issue takes its theme from a much-discussed term around the industry these days: full-spectrum survivability assessment. Survivability practitioners have long recognized the critical need to understand and address the ever-growing list of threats that our combat personnel and systems could face. What’s changed in recent years, however, is the sheer breadth of the disparate types of threats that must be dealt with.
No longer can survivability researchers, developers, testers, evaluators, modelers, and others focus just on the traditional kinetic insults of impacting bullets and missiles. Now, in addition to all the increasingly lethal kinetic threats out there, a whole host of nonkinetic threats—including electromagnetic; directed energy; chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear; and cyber threats—must also be assessed. Fortunately, our industry already possesses a strong foundation of tools and techniques to help deal with this expansion in scope. But it’s also clear that much uncharted territory remains.
Accordingly, this issue begins with Dr. Gregory Ruderman from the Office of the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) addressing some frequently asked questions about full-spectrum survivability assessment, including where the term comes from, what it comprises, whom it affects, and what major differences and challenges it presents for the survivability community.
Then, a team from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory provides an overview of the Mission-Based Risk Assessment (MBRA) process and how it’s intended to help scope and justify full-spectrum survivability tests within the context of risk to mission. Likewise, a team from Applied Research Associates (ARA) discusses the development and use of a model-based systems engineering architecture and toolset—called Full-Spectrum Survivability Tools (FSST)—which can help system stakeholders leverage and consolidate domain-specific models, test data, and system requirements to inform test events and design criteria.
For our feature article, Dr. Bill “Data” Bryant from Modern Technology Solutions, Inc. (MTSI) delves into the critical area of cyber survivability analysis and testing and discusses ways in which modeling and simulation (M&S) tools and techniques can be leveraged to effectively measure and mitigate cyber risk.
In our JCAT Corner article, Mr. Josh Yokum recognizes the recent retirement of Air Force software specialist Mr. Ron Buhrman, the longtime developer of the VulnView/Combat Assessment Tool (CAT), and provides an update on the tool’s latest features and capabilities. Josh is also recognized in our News Notes for his selection as the new model manager for VulnView/CAT. Other News Notes discuss the establishment of several new Air Force research and manufacturing facilities, as well as the publication of a new State-of-the-Art Report (SOAR) on attritable unmanned aircraft systems.
Finally, Mr. Robert Gierard provides a report on the 2024 Aircraft Survivability Symposium in Monterey this past November.
Thank you again for reading, and don’t miss future ASJ issues, which are planned to highlight recent developments in fire/ullage research and testing; attack scene investigation and battlefield forensics; CBRN survivability; the history, mission, and recent activities of the Aircraft Survivability Equipment Readiness Teams; several real-world stories in survivability; and more.
Sincerely,
