Suitability of the A-7E Corsair II for "All Weather" attack ingress and targeting transition

Since the Reagan Presidency, the emphasis on budget cuts, and in particular on defense spending, is forcing the Navy to reevaluate the mission capability of their aircraft with the mind set of extending their service life and tactical effectiveness through the turn of the century. The A-7E is a single seat light attack aircraft which has historically been utilized predominantly as a day visual bomber. Within the past decade, tactical aggressions on the part on third world countries has enhanced interest in utilizing attack aircraft for night and instrument ingress. Thus, it is the purpose of this thesis to determine the modification requirements for the A-7E in order to make the aircraft suitable for "All Weather" ingress and target transition. The suitability study commenced with defining a generic ingress profile, defining "All Weather" mission scope and reviewing the pilot workload psychology considerations applicable to successful completion of a single seat "All Weather" ingress and targeting transition. The suitability study consisted of both ground and flight tests as well as extensive field research to include numerous personal interviews with experts in both the military and industry. The A-7E would require extensive modification to make it suitable to perform "All Weather" ingress and targeting transition. The navigation system needs to undergo major upgrades in order to provide accuracy to within a few tens of meters. Terrain referencing navigation in combination with a Ring Laser Gyro and Global Positioning System could provide the pilot the accuracy and confidence desired. Pilot cueing of flight path critical terrain features needs to be upgraded in order to ensure obstacle avoidance. Extensive modifications to the Forward Looking Radar, Forward Looking Infrared, Projected Moving Map Display, and HUD along with cockpit switchology and instrument layout are required. In the past decade significant emphasis has been placed on interfacing cockpits for use with night vision devices. The A-7E can and should be modified for night vision device compatibility. Undoubtedly low level ingress and targeting transition is best performed in a dual seat aircraft; however, modem system designs to include tactical system and aircraft automation open "All Weather" attack to single seat aircraft in some mission significant scenarios. Modernization programs similar in scope to the one described herein for the A-7E could be employed on other fleet aircraft in order to allow continued mission significant operation.