INNOVATIVE AIR COMBAT MEASURES OF MERIT FOR SUPERMANEUVERABLE FIGHTER AIRCRAFT DEVELOPMENT

"RECENT TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES HAVE ASSURED THE POSSIBILITY OF RADICALLY EXPANDING THE MANEUVERING ENVELOP OF FUTURE FIGHTER DESIGNS. INCREASES IN FORCE AND MOMENT GENERATION AS WELL AS ENHANCED DEPARTURE RESISTANCE WILL ENABLE THE NEXT GENERATION OF FIGHTERS TO PERFORM MANEUVERS BEYOND TODAY'S CONVENTIONAL FLIGHT BOUNDARIES. WHILE THE FEASIBILITY OF SUCH MANEUVERS, REFERRED TO AS SUPERMANEUVERS, HAS BEEN DEMONSTRATED, THEIR APPLICABILITY AND MERIT HAS NOT BEEN FULLY EVALUATED. DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENABLING TECHNOLOGY HAS PRECEEDED THAT OF SUITABLE MEASURES OF MERIT AND DEFINITION OF SPECIFIC SUPERMANEUVERABILITY REQUIREMENTS. THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED STUDY IS TO DEFINE SPECIFIC SUPERMANEUVERS AND DEVELOPE MEASURES OF MERIT FOR THEIR ASSESSMENT. A LARGE VOLUME OF AIR COMBAT MANEUVERING (ACM) AND SUPERMANEUVERABILITY DATA WILL BE ANALYZED USING THE TACTS/ACMI SYSTEM AND PREVIOUS STUDIES RELATED TO SUPERMANEUVERABILITY TECHNOLOGY. THE OBJECTIVES WILL BE SPECIFICALLY MET THROUGH MATHEMATICAL MODELLING AND SIMULATION."