
Threat Effects in Aircraft Combat Survivability Documentary
The JASPO-funded documentary video project “Threat Effects in Aircraft Combat Survivability” updates the material presented in the original Threat Effects video, which was funded by the JTCG/AS in 1986.
This documentary uniquely presents the primary threat weapons to aircraft and the ballistic response or effect of an aircraft when hit by a threat. It contains combat and gun-camera footage and both lethality and survivability test analysis video, all of which are combined and edited to demonstrate the cause-and-effect relationship between threats and their effect on an aircraft on the battlefield. The benefits gained from using technologies in vulnerability reduction will further increase the viewers interest in, knowledge of, and appreciation for the survivability discipline.
Scenes of encounters between U.S. aircraft and anti-aircraft threats photographed during Operations Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom, Desert Storm, and Restore Hope; the Vietnam conflict; the second Chechnyan war; and other encounters vividly illustrate the threats lethality, their effects, and the subsequent damage processes that occurred in these conflicts. The anti-aircraft threats presented in this documentary include air-to-air missiles, surface-to-air missiles, man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS), rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), anti-aircraft artilery (AAA), and small arms. Lethality test analysis video of these threats reveals the details of their fuzing and the generation of different types of damage mechanisms.
The combat and gun-camera footage and survivability test video in Threat Effects feature current frontline aircraft, including the AH-1, A-10, AH-64, F-14, F-15, F-16, F/A-18A/B/C/DE/F, B-52, C-130, H-60, H-47, UH-1, the Joint Strike Fighter during its developmental testing phase, and the civilian Airbus A300.
Survivability analysis video of ballistic tests conducted on selected aircraft illustrates how an aircraft systems are affected by a threats impact. The tested aircraft systems include fuel, propulsion, flight control, armament, crew, avionics, structural, electrical power, power train, and rotor blades.
The updated Threat Effects video concludes by presenting some positive effects achieved by incorporating various vulnerability reduction features, either by altering the aircrafts design or by adding equipment to prevent a systems kill modes from occurring.
The production of Threat Effects received strong support from the survivability, lethality, intelligence, and operational communities. Sources for some material included in the project included:
- U.S. Air Force Aerospace Vehicle Survivability Facility
- U.S. Army Research Laboratory
- Survivability/Lethality Analysis Directorate
- Applied Technology Laboratories
- 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne)
- U.S. Navy Weapons Survivability Laboratory
- Detonation Science Branch of the Naval Air Warfare Center
- National Ground Intelligence Center
- Defense Visual Information
- RHAMM Technologies
- Booz Allen Hamilton
- SURVICE Engineering Company
- Defense Systems Information Analysis Center
Additional video for Threat Effects was shot by the project’s producer and director, Robert E. Ball, Jr.
JASPO is currently funding a training video project for JCAT, which is also produced by Mr. Ball and SURVICE. This new project will provide incoming JCAT members and other designated personnel with threat and damage training, threat-induced damage identification training, and an introduction to both aircraft design features and survivability features. The project will also focus on the JCAT’s purpose, processes, tenets, and real-world benefits, including the advantages gained from incorporating aircraft survivability features.
The updated Threat Effects DVD is For Official Use Only (FOUO) and not for public release. Distribution authorized to U.S. Government Agencies and their contractors only; critical technology; July 2006. JASPO is managing the requests for this DVD through DSIAC.