INNOVATIVE VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT TECHNIQUES FOR CONCEPTUAL AIRCRAFT

SURVIVABILITY IS A MAJOR FACTOR IN DETERMINING THIS EFFECTIVENESS. ONE OF THE PRIMARY INPUTS FOR AIRCRAFT SURVIVABILITY EVALUATIONS ARE ESTIMATES OF THE AIRCRAFT'S VULNERABILITY. DURING THE COURSE OF THE DESIGN AND EVALUATION PROCESS, MANY AIRCRAFT DESIGNS WILL BE GENERATED AND A NEED EXISTS TO BE ABLE TO EVALUATE ALL OF THOSE DESIGNS CONSISTENTLY AND TO A LEVEL OF FIDELITY THAT ARE SENSITIVE TO THE SALIENT FEATURES OF THE DESIGN. AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH IS REQUIRED TO RAPIDLY ESTIMATE THE VULNERABILITY FOR CONCEPTUAL AIRCRAFT FOR A RANGE OF NON-NUCLEAR WEAPONS. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROGRAM IS TO DERIVE AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH OF COMBINING EXISTING VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT TECHNIQUES WITH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND AUTOMATION TOOLS TO REDUCE THE TIME AND MANPOWER NEEDED TO GENERATE THE VULNERABILITY ESTIMATES. THE RESULTS OF THIS EFFORT YIELDS TWO SIGNIFICANT PRODUCTS: 1) THE APPROACH USED TO DEVELOP THE TOOLS CAN BE APPLIED TO ANY ANALYSIS PROCESS NOT JUST THE VULNERABILITY ANALYSIS PROCESS. 2) THE RAPID ASSESSMENT TECHNIQUES TOOL CAN BE USED BY ANY ORGANIZATION WHO NEEDS TO EVALUATE THE VULNERABILITY OF MANY AIRCRAFT CONCEPTUAL DESIGNS.