Masters Theses

Date of Award

5-1992

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Aviation Systems

Major Professor

Ralph D. Kimberlin

Committee Members

Uwe Peter Solies, Donald W. Tippitt

Abstract

Since the first World War, the fighter pilot's axiom has been "he who sees the enemy first, wins". Because of the great advantage enjoyed by the fighter that senses the enemy first, great emphasis has been placed on the development of sensors to aid in the venture. With the rapid advances in technology a plethora of sensors are now available to the combat pilot. Such sensors include radar, forward looking infrared, passive radio frequency, and optical.

As the amount of information available to the combat pilot mounts, it gets increasingly difficult for him to simultaneously assimilate the data from the various sources and use it tactically. With the development of the United States Air Forces' Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF), effort is being made to integrate the various sensors into a battlefield manager.

Although the ATF is nearly a decade from operational use, the U.S. Navy along with McDonnell Aircraft Company, has developed the software to integrate the F/A-18 Hornet with its various sensors and sources of information using a process called Multi-Source Integration (MSI). MSI, along with additional weapons and human factors enhancements was incorporated in Operational Right Program 91 for use in the F/A-18.This study analyzes the need for, development, and testing of MSI and Operational Flight Program 91.

Operational Flight Program 91 was a major advancement for the F/A-18 Hornet. Individual sensor performance was increased, human factors enhancements decreased pilot workload, and the Multi-Source Integration effort had a synergistic effect on the capability of the aircraft. Perhaps the most long-reaching benefit that OFP 91 gave the Hornet wasthat of growth potential. As future sensors are developed, the integration of them into the aircraft will be logical, enhance MSI capabilities, and increase mission capability. The author presented many recommendations addressing the MSI algorithm itself, weapons, display, and human factors enhancements.

Download
Files over 3MB may be slow to open. For best results, right-click and select "save as..."

Share

COinS