Browse Topic: Radar
Low-level flight, defined by high-speed operations near terrain, represents a significant challenge in military rotorcraft missions while providing strategic advantages, such as radar evasion and heightened surprise. Recent conflicts highlight the urgent need for advanced low-level flight capabilities in the design of new rotorcraft. The close proximity to ground obstacles, combined with the complexities of piloting, necessitates precise control and robust handling qualities to prevent accidents. However, existing handling quality standards, such as MIL-DTL-32742, reveal limitations in assessing low-level maneuvers. Given the diverse array of new rotorcraft designs, driven by initiatives like the U.S. Army's Future Vertical Lift and NATO's Next Generation Rotorcraft Capabilities, a customized handling qualities evaluation for each design is impractical. In response, a performance-driven strategy has been implemented, scaling Mission Task Elements to align with aircraft performance
This study introduces three new proposed Mission Task Elements (MTEs) - "Big Air", "Giant Slalom", and "Super Combined" - aimed at evaluating handling qualities during low-level and high-speed flight profiles. These MTEs are designed to reflect operational task elements critical in military engagements, particularly where rotorcraft capabilities in evading radar detection and maneuvering at high speeds are paramount. Utilizing piloted simulations with four generic rotorcraft configurations under various flight control laws, the MTEs' effectiveness in exposing aircraft characteristics and handling deficiencies is systematically assessed. The evaluation, conducted with a diverse group of pilots, underscores the MTEs' relevance to real-world scenarios and their robustness in handling qualities assessment across different rotorcraft designs. The study reveals that while some configurations exhibit consistent Level 1 Handling Qualities Ratings (HQRs), others show varied performance
Launch, recovery, and deck handling operational performance on smaller ship platforms like Corvettes, Frigates and Destroyers are qualified as the most challenging tasks in the UAS ship-deployment of a VTOL Uncrewed Air System (UAS). One of the main hurdles is the random nature of seaway-created deck motions coupled with ship structure disturbed air wake patterns. The MoD has supported a range of work aimed at bringing Quiescent Period Prediction (QPP) technology to fruition. QPP firstly requires Wave Profiling RADAR to measure the sea wave system out to approximately 2km in the region around a vessel. Secondly these measurements are employed in a wave propagation model to predict the actual wave forces acting on a vessel. Using the wave predictions as inputs to a vessel model makes possible to predict the actual (deterministic as opposed to statistical) motions of a vessel. Wave systems naturally alternate groups of large waves with smaller waves, this property, combined with the
A multi-domain Eulerian/Lagrangian approach for modeling transient behavior of countermeasures released from tactical rotorcraft is being developed, that tracks chaff/flares/pyrophorics properties from initial dispensing and bloom, through entrainment within the rotorcraft flowfield, to final settling to the ground. Development of the software leverages extensive prior simulation and experimental work conducted at CDI on droplet and particle modeling, fuel jettisoning, agricultural airborne spraying applications, icing accretion, brownout cloud simulation, and store separation clearance determination. The software is designed for supporting applications that include chaff dispenser mounting design, piloted simulation training and tactics development, and radar cross-section (RCS) determination and engagement simulations. The code couples in CDI's real-time free wake analysis to support the development of accurate time-varying signature calculations and expands the potential for
An aircraft's survivability in a hostile environment is a mixture of factors that stem from both susceptibility and vulnerability. Conducting analyses that incorporate these factors into a blended solution is vital. One such analysis was conducted using the government-provided Air-Defense Artillery (ADA) simulation tool Radar Directed Gun System (RADGUNS). RADGUNS provides a three-dimensional engagement space to conduct one versus one encounters against Radio Frequency (RF) guided threats. Complex user-generated flight paths can be simulated with varying relative starting locations of the aircraft relative to the threat being considered. The simulations conducted incorporated various aircraft parameters. Aircraft velocity, acceleration rates, deceleration rates, vulnerable area, and radar cross section (RCS) were the primary parameters whose effects were investigated. For each encounter, the Probability of Hit (P H) and Probability of Kill given a Hit (P K|H) were calculated
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